Back to a Cell: Why the Court’s U-Turn on Samvel Karapetyan Raises Red Flags

Just days after it looked like common sense might finally prevail, Armenia’s courts slammed the door shut again on Samvel Karapetyan.

The Yerevan City Court’s decision to yank Karapetyan out of house arrest and send him back into pre-trial detention has sparked fresh outrage and renewed questions about judicial independence. The Russian–Armenian tycoon and philanthropist, who had already spent more than six months behind bars without a conviction, was briefly released on bail late last year. That didn’t last long.

On Tuesday, the Anti-Corruption Court of Appeal overturned a lower court ruling by Judge Sargis Petrosyan that had replaced detention with house arrest and bail. The result: Karapetyan is once again being transferred to the National Security Service isolation facility, this time for another two months of pre-trial detention.

His lawyer, Aram Vardevanyan, didn’t mince words. Even the short-lived house arrest, he said, came with sweeping communication limits and vague restrictions on freedom of speech. Now, with that decision reversed, Karapetyan is back where he started – locked up, accused, and still presumed innocent under the law.

Karapetyan was charged in June 2025 with making public calls to seize power, stemming from a pro-Church statement made during a politically sensitive standoff between the government and the Armenian Apostolic Church. Authorities later piled on additional accusations, including large-scale money laundering. Karapetyan has flatly denied all charges.

Critics argue the optics are bad – and getting worse. Multiple extensions of pre-trial detention, shifting preventive measures, and now a sudden judicial reversal all feed the perception that punishment is coming before a verdict. For a case this high-profile, that perception matters.

House arrest and bail are standard alternatives when courts believe a suspect does not pose an immediate risk of flight or obstruction. The fact that one court agreed – only to be overruled days later – raises uncomfortable questions about consistency, pressure, and the real purpose of prolonged detention.

At a time when Armenia says it wants to strengthen the rule of law, decisions like this do the opposite. They risk turning pre-trial detention into a tool of leverage rather than a last resort, and they leave the public wondering whether justice is being served – or simply enforced.

For now, Samvel Karapetyan remains behind bars. And so does the doubt surrounding how and why this case is being handled.