Head of  Tashir Group Companies spoke out against  authorities`  anti-church campaign  and was subsequently detained by law  enforcement officers

ArmInfo. "If Armenian politicians don't succeed in changing the situation, we will have to intervene in Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's campaing against the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC)," Samvel Karapetyan, president of the  Association of Armenian Entrepreneurs, head of the Tashir Group of  Companies and famous Armenian-Russian entrepreneur, told journalists.

He pointed out that the a group of individuals, who have forgotten  Armenian history and the thousand-year history of the Armenian  churches, have targeted the AAC and the Armenian people.  "I have  always been close to the AAC and close to the Armenian people. If  political forces in Armenia fail to address this issue, we will have  to intervene in the campaign against the Church," Karapetyan  concluded.

 According to some Armenian media outlets, shortly after making these  statements to journalists,  Samvel Karapetyan was detained by  Armenian law enforcement agencies. It is still unclear whether the  Armenian authorities intend to arrest the well-known businessman  listed in Forbes. There is no official information available yet   regarding the reasons and the fact of his detention.

However, there is a post on Facebook by Nikol Pashinyan with the  following content: "This is not the village of Nizhny Tapir in Kaluga  (Karapetyan started his business there in the 90s - Ed.). This is the  Republic of Armenia. I hope the taste of the state will stay in your  mouth." Note  that since May 29, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan and his associates have been systematically attacking the  Armenian Apostolic Church. This campaign began with Pashinyan's  remark at a government meeting, where he likened Armenian churches to  storage closets filled with "all sorts of junk." This was followed by  his statements on social media, where he used rude and disrespectful  language towards the church hierarchs and accused one of the  archbishops of sexual promiscuity. At the same time, the Prime  Minister demanded that all priests who violated their vow of celibacy  be defrocked. 

The Prime Minister's wife, Anna Hakobyan, joined in the attacks, by  referring to the Patriarch as "the main mafioso." Pyashinyan further  called for "effective steps" to replace  Catholicos of All Armenians  Karekin II and announced the formation of a special coordination  group for "the liberation of the Residence of the Mother See of Holy  Etchmiadzin" and the settlement of organizational issues for holding  new elections for the Catholicos. Pashinyan specified that followers  of the Armenian Apostolic Church could be members of this  Coordination Group. The Prime Minister also intends to personally  choose the first 10 members of the Coordination Group.

It should be noted that these actions of Pashinyan, according to  numerous legal experts, are unconstitutional in nature and constitute  an attempt to overthrow the constitutional order in the country.