(MENAFN) Demonstrators gathered in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, on Saturday to demand the release of Russian-Armenian billionaire and outspoken government critic Samvel Karapetyan. The rally, organized by the opposition Mer Dzevov (Our Way) movement, included Karapetyan’s wife and three children among the participants.

Karapetyan was arrested in June on allegations of inciting a coup and money laundering. He had publicly criticized Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s actions against the Armenian Apostolic Church clergy, whom the government accuses of corruption and political interference.

Speaking to the crowd outside the city’s main detention center, Karapetyan’s lawyer, Aram Vardevanyan, stated that his client is prepared to lead a new political party in the upcoming elections.

Tensions between Pashinyan and the national church date back to 2020, when the church’s leader, Catholicos Garegin II, called for the prime minister’s resignation amid mass protests. Pashinyan has since maintained that Garegin is unfit for his role and should step down.

This week, police detained Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, head of the Diocese of Aragatsotn, along with five other clergymen on charges of abuse of power and fraud. Earlier in the month, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan was sentenced to two years in prison for inciting a coup, a case he described as politically motivated.

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