There is political persecution against Narek Karapetyan. He has exhibited proper behavior and has not taken any actions that could cause concern, said Aram Vardevanyan.

22-07-2026 13:50 Armenia Politics

tert.am There was a clear trend in the actions of both certain law enforcement agencies and the Central Electoral Commission that Narek Karapetyan should not be represented in the National Assembly in any way. This was stated by Aram Vardevanyan, a member of the "Strong Armenia" party, during a conversation with journalists in front of the CEC.

"The forces represented in the National Assembly, what should they do before August 2? Organizational, faction formation nature and preparatory work. This implies the conduct of specific sessions of the first session of the National Assembly. Now what are they saying, how are they trying to interpret it?"

They say, 'You know, let's detain people until August 2, but they must be released on August 2.' To exclude this absurdity, the Constitutional Court had directly recorded in its decision 16.19 back in December 2021 that a person who obtains the status of a deputy cannot be in conditions of imprisonment, their freedom cannot be restricted, with one exception—by the consent of the National Assembly, as you have seen multiple times."

"Now the CEC, the Prosecutor's Office, I am sure that later, in a few hours, the investigative body will try to carry out actions aimed at violating the decision of the Constitutional Court, but what is the initial assumption? The CEC is an independent constitutional body that should probably be constrained not by the desires of the Prosecutor's Office, but by the decision of the Constitutional Court, but the situation is different," the lawyer elaborated.

"I can clearly say that the perception of many representatives of law enforcement agencies is that the status of a deputy and the assumption of powers by a deputy are identical."

"Therefore, by the force of the Constitutional Court's decision, on August 2, a person cannot be in detention, based on the fact that they are a deputy and have assumed powers. The Constitutional Court, which should be the body responsible for these issues, has used not the term 'assumption of powers,' but the term 'status of a deputy.'"

This means that what is happening to Narek Karapetyan since yesterday, to Davit Ghazinyan, to Hayk Sukiasyan, is outside the realm of law, all of it is outside the law, outside reason, but it will have an end, be assured," Aram Vardevanyan noted.

When asked whether the prosecutor had presented any data that Narek Karapetyan had attempted to take any illegal action, the lawyer responded.

"You are asking a very correct question, that is, for example, Narek Karapetyan, knowing that the CEC publicly states that the Prosecutor's Office has submitted a motion regarding him, and so on, which the CEC has returned, but this does not mean from a legal perspective that this proceeding disappears, Narek Karapetyan has exclusively exhibited proper behavior. Even in the realm of interpretation, he has not taken any action that could cause concern. Despite this, the same prosecutors express the same thoughts with the same tone. I regret to say that all of this has nothing to do with law."

"There is targeting against Narek Karapetyan, it is political persecution, it is interference in his political activities," Vardevanyan added.

* This text was automatically translated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Noyan Tapan | Politics