Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin accuses authorities of unlawful, politically motivated persecution.

The Information Service of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin issued a statement on Facebook calling on Armenian authorities to “immediately stop actions by law enforcement” concerning the search of businessman Samvel Karapetyan’s home.

“It was just reported that, shortly after expressing support for the Armenian Church, law enforcement attempted to arrest national benefactor Samvel Karapetyan, and his house is currently being searched,” the statement said.

“We strongly condemn this persecution, which is clearly politically motivated. We urge the Armenian authorities to immediately stop these unlawful actions,” the Church declared.

On the night of June 18, Samvel Karapetyan left his Yerevan residence with law enforcement officials. Earlier, he had issued a public statement supporting the Armenian Apostolic Church.

“I stand with our Church and people. Let them try to smear us — I don’t care about them or their power network. Everything will be fine, the people will have their say, and they’ll understand they were wrong,” he said.

In response, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote: “Why have the immoral ‘clergymen’ and their immoral ‘benefactors’ become so active? No worries — we’ll silence them again. This time, for good.” He later added that the Electric Networks of Armenia must be nationalized quickly.