Karapetyan: repressive machine undermines national unity

PanARMENIAN.Net - Businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, detained for two months, has released a new statement through his legal team, strongly criticizing the political and legal situation in Armenia. “A brutal repressive machine has become the most in-demand tool and is shaking the internal strength of our country,” he said.

Karapetyan declared that they will “put an end to division together.”

He accused the current authorities of:

• Dividing the nation into "blacks and whites."
• Labeling heroes, generals, scientists, and the elite as part of the "black" side.
• Turning some into alleged bribe-takers and others into supposed societal outcasts.
• Placing nearly all businesspeople into the "black" category, some facing hundreds of allegedly illegal criminal cases.

According to Karapetyan, those who genuinely care for Armenia, create jobs, and contribute to the economy are now political prisoners experiencing the harsh conditions of prison life. He said respected individuals and their families were persecuted and forced to leave or avoid returning to their homeland—many of whom he personally knows.

He emphasized that the authorities succeeded in turning everyone against each other. Political groups, instead of targeting the “main evil,” began fighting among themselves. However, he believes time is revealing the truth: “The black are turning white, and the white, now a minority among the people, will soon shrink into a mere clique.” He added that even this division causes him pain, as the hardest period in Armenia’s history began with such polarizations. “We will soon end the division together. We will fight,” he concluded.

On the morning of June 25, law enforcement launched searches at the homes of “Holy Struggle” movement supporters. The Investigative Committee claimed the group’s leaders and members were planning terrorist acts and a seizure of power. Later, movement leader Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan was detained for two months. The Committee has requested the detention of 16 individuals, with 9 already remanded, and a court decision on one more due June 26.

On June 24, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan shared a Civic.am article titled “The Opposition’s Coup Plan,” writing: “This process will go down in history as the ‘traitors’ failed coup.’”