Armenian billionaire appears in court accused of calling for regime change as church feud spirals
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — One of richest men in Armenia has been arrested on charges of making public calls to seize power in the country illegally, his lawyer said Wednesday, as a feud between Armenia's prime minister and the nation's dominant church intensified.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has long had a tumultuous relationship with the Armenian Apostolic Church and billionaire Samvel Karapetyan now seems to have been caught up in it.
Karapetyan, 59, was detained late on Tuesday night and appeared in front of a court in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Wednesday, according to Armen Feroyan, his attorney.
The lawyer said Karapetyan denied the charges against him. Karapetyan, who also holds Russian citizenship, owns the Tashir Group, a conglomerate that operates residential and commercial real estate as well as the Electric Networks of Armenia.
Pashinyan, the prime minister, told journalists on Wednesday that the power company would be nationalized 'soon' following Karapetyan's arrest.
Before his arrest, Karapetyan said in video released Tuesday, that 'a small group of people who have forgotten the thousand-year history of Armenia and the church' were attacking the religious institution.
'I have always stood with the Armenian Church and the Armenian people,' the billionaire said. 'If the politicians do not succeed, we will intervene in our own way in this campaign against the church.'
The remarks were seen as a jab at Pashinyan, who on June 8 called for the head of Armenia's church, Catholicos Karekin II, to resign after accusing him of fathering a child while under a vow of celibacy. At the time, the church released a statement accusing Pashinyan of undermining Armenia's 'spiritual unity' but did not address the claim about the child.
Pashinyan responded, promising on Facebook to crack down on 'depraved' members of the clergy and their benefactors.
'He says 'we will intervene in our own way',' Pashinyan wrote, apparently citing Karapetyan. 'Now I will intervene in my own way.'
Earlier on Wednesday, the prime minister dismissed the head of the country's national security service, Armen Abazyan. When asked by journalists if the move was linked to the billionaire's arrest, Pashinyan only said the security chief 'deserved to rest a little' after a difficult tenure.
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