Armenian election commission rejects prosecutors' bid to detain Narek Karapetyan

Armenia's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) on Wednesday returned a motion by the Prosecutor General's Office seeking authorization to deprive MP-elect Narek Karapetyan of his liberty, a decision his teammate and lawyer Aram Vardevanyan said is legally equivalent to rejecting the request.

Karapetyan, a board member of the Strong Armenia party, will not be placed in pretrial detention or under house arrest.

Vardevanyan told reporters the defense relied on a 2021 Constitutional Court ruling during the CEC hearing and that prosecutors failed to present substantive counterarguments.

"The CEC unanimously decided to return the motion, which is equivalent to rejecting it. Narek Karapetyan has the status of a member of parliament. This means that the issue of imposing pretrial detention or house arrest will not arise in his case," he said.

Vardevanyan argued that the commission should also have returned a separate motion seeking authorization to initiate criminal proceedings against Karapetyan. He said he expects prosecutors to proceed with "an outrageous, unlawful and absurd" criminal case against Karapetyan while seeking a less restrictive preventive measure than detention.