A group of Diaspora Armenian businessmen has addressed an open letter to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, urging him to publish a list of words and expressions that “annoy him” and might “lead to imprisonment,” according to Yerkir.am .

“The world’s richest and most influential Armenian, Samvel Karapetyan, has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to charitable projects in Armenia over more than 30 years. And now, under your personal orders, he has been arrested, and the process of nationalizing his assets has begun. The reason, as we understand it, is simply his remarks defending the Armenian Church: ‘We’ll solve things in our own way.’”

“We, the entrepreneurs and businesspeople who live outside our historic homeland and have invested our modest savings in Armenian business projects, are, to put it mildly, confused. Frankly, we’re starting to worry — both for ourselves and our investments.”

“We visit Armenia regularly and, to avoid committing a crime, we urgently request that you publish the list of words and expressions that are prohibited by law in Armenia or that annoy you — making them dangerous or undesirable for use. We are particularly interested in those that might result in imprisonment or loss of property. Thank you in advance for your understanding and support.”

The letter was signed by Arsen Beyburtyan (Paris, France), Mark Potikyan (Massachusetts, U.S.), Robert Ketikyan (Milan, Italy), Christopher Balajyan (Dortmund, Germany), Hakob Makunts (Moscow, Russia), Davit Jrpeshyan (Krasnodar, Russia), Patrick Suvaryan (Geneva, Switzerland), and Armen Baghdasaryan (Sofia, Bulgaria).

On June 18, Samvel Karapetyan was detained for two months and placed to the Armavir penitentiary for “making a public call to usurp government authority.”

A few hours earlier, Karapetyan had issued a statement supporting the Armenian Apostolic Church: “I stand with our Church and our people. No matter how much they try to smear us, I don’t care about them or their electric grid. Everything will be fine. The people will have their say, and they’ll realize they were wrong.”

In response, Pashinyan wrote: “Why have the wicked ‘clergy’ and their wicked ‘benefactors’ become so active? Never mind, we’ll silence them again. This time for good.” He later added that the Electric Networks of Armenia must be nationalized “very quickly.”