Narek Karapetyan: Extending arrest of Strong Armenia party leader  illegal step in global political practice 

ArmInfo. Extending the house arrest of "Strong Armenia" party leader Samvel Karapetyan for three months is an illegal step in global political practice. Narek  Karapetyan, a member of the board of the "Strong Armenia" party,  stated this in an interview with ArmeniaTV News.

According to him, this deprives the leader of the main political  party of the opportunity to conduct a full- fledged election campaign  and personally communicate with the Armenian people. "But we  understand perfectly well why this is being done. This is another  manifestation of fear. Everything is being done to prevent Karapetyan  from participating in the election campaign. After all, then the  Armenian people would be able to compare what Armenian Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan and Samvel Karapetyan offer them and understand that  they need a strong leader," the party board member noted. Karapetyan  expressed his conviction that this is nothing more than another  manifestation of the authorities' campaign against figures with  opposition views. "Moreover, this is a government that was once the  opposition itself and came to power with slogans about establishing  democracy in the country," the party board member noted.

According to Karapetyan, they have recently frequently encountered  cases of pressure in kindergartens and schools - an attempt to  intimidate people so they don't vote in the parliamentary elections.  "Meanwhile, the leader of the Strong Armenia party is under house  arrest, public television is constantly campaigning against our  political force, and the power centers are working against the  opposition every day. But what's interesting is that even after using  all their tools, we see that they (the authorities - ed.) are unsure  of their strength and are trying to find other options, using all  their resources against their opponents," Karapetyan believes.

Karapetyan also sees Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's visit  to Gyumri during his election campaign as confirmation of this.  According to a party board member, this visit demonstrated that the  Armenian prime minister can no longer generate mass street movements  and lacks popular support. "This is an indication that Pashinyan has  lost credibility. If I'm not mistaken, only 4,000 people attended the  rally in Gyumri, 2,400 of whom they brought from Yerevan. This shows  that the authorities have lost their potential to generate mass  street movements. And this means that the active part of our society  has realized they need change," Karapetyan asserts.

It is in this same spirit, he says, that the issue of criteria for  parties to be registered for elections is being raised with Vahagn  Hovakimyan, head of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of  Armenia. "This is happening because the authorities' chances are  dwindling with each passing day. Therefore, they are attempting to  cross yet another threshold of lawlessness. We want a peaceful  process of power transition in Armenia. Because the current  government has failed to fulfill 90% of its promises to the Armenian  people.  Therefore, change must take place. Let new forces come,"  Karapetyan noted.

He also announced that they intend to begin the process of submitting  documents to the Central Election Commission of Armenia in the coming  days, and on April 21, they intend to present the electoral list of  the party and the forces with which they have allied.

As a reminder, on April 17, the Anti-Corruption Court of Armenia  extended the house arrest of Strong Armenia party leader Samvel  Karapetyan for three months. The Strong Armenia party leader was  arrested on June 18, 2025, in Yerevan after expressing support for  the Armenian Apostolic Church, which had come under attack from the  Armenian authorities. Following this, open threats were made by  Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, leading to Karapetyan's  arrest. He is accused of publicly calling for a takeover of the  country. Later, the party leader was charged with money laundering  and embezzlement on an especially large scale. Last December, Samvel  Karapetyan's pretrial detention was changed to house arrest.