The Probation Service has still not provided a position confirming that businessman Samvel Karapetyan, who is under house arrest, may publish video messages, lawyer Aram Vardevanyan wrote on Facebook.

He recalled that the court had extended Karapetyan’s house arrest by one month and said the judicial decision does not comply with the law.

“We received the court’s decision to extend Samvel Karapetyan’s illegal detention (house arrest) for one month. The judicial act in no way follows the law and legal principles and will be appealed within a very short time.

During the court hearing, even referring to a public statement by the head of the executive branch, I asked the court to clearly record whether publishing video messages or conducting Facebook live broadcasts is permitted.

From the court’s position, it follows that all those officials who insisted that there were no restrictions on Samvel Karapetyan publishing video messages were directly lying. Unfortunately, this behavior is nothing new.

Through an obviously unlawful judicial act, the court recorded that the authority to grant permission on this issue lies with the investigator — the same Investigative Committee that had rejected our petitions. We have been talking about this since February 12, 2026, and tomorrow I will once again apply to the investigator.

At the same time, such, to put it mildly, inappropriate and ugly manipulations had only one purpose, intensifying political persecution.

I would also like to reveal that the Probation Service never provided me with a position confirming that Samvel Karapetyan may publish video messages. Incidentally, the Prosecutor’s Office has the exclusive authority to cancel the preventive measure imposed by the court and can even stop this illegal political persecution entirely.

The rule of law must prevail. Freedom to all political prisoners,” the post said.

Karapetyan was detained on June 18, 2025, and the court later extended his detention several times. On December 30, the court granted the defense motion to replace detention with house arrest and bail.

He has been charged with making public calls to seize power and overthrow the constitutional order. On October 13, the Investigative Committee said the charges were modified and supplemented under Article 296, Part 3, Clauses 2 and 3 of the Criminal Code (money laundering on an especially large scale using official authority or influence). Karapetyan denies the accusations.