Yerevan law enforcement today detained businessman Samvel Karapetyan after he gave an interview with news.am in which he denounced those politicians who have recently called for a new leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Karapetyan said the following in the interview:

“A small group, forgetting the history of Armenia, the history of the Armenian Church for thousands of years, attacked the Armenian Church, the Armenian people... Since I have always been on the side of the Armenian Church and the Armenian people, I will have a direct participation. If politicians fail, then we will also participate in all this in our own way."

Armenia’s Investigative Committee, deeming the above remarks “a public call to seize power and to overthrow the country’s constitutional order, petitioned the courts to detain the businessman who owns the Tashir Group that includes more than two hundred companies representing various business sectors: real estate development, finance, industry, construction, energy, trade, restaurant business and the entertainment industry.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, last week, claimed that Catholicos Karekin II had fathered a child, this breaking his vow of celibacy.

Pashinyan minced no words calling for new elections to replace Karekin II.

Karapetyan’s lawyer has described the charges as ludicrous and without merit.