Court extends detention of business tycoon Samvel Karapetyan

A Yerevan court on Tuesday extended by another two months the pre-trial detention of Samvel Karapetyan, the billionaire owner of the Tashir Group of Companies.

Karapetyan’s lawyer, Aram Vardevanyan, announced the verdict to reporters outside the courtroom.

The business magnate has been jailed since June for remarks he made in an interview, which investigators deemed as amounting to a call for the overthrow of the government and the constitutional order. Earlier in October, investigators added new charges of money laundering to his indictment. Karapetyan has denied any wrongdoing. He was previously denied release on bail.