19:57, 30 September 2026

Karapetyan's associate has been placed under house arrest.

The court in Armenia has softened the measure of restraint for oppositionist Alik Aleksanyan, accused of bribing residents for the political interests of Samvel Karapetyan.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", at the end of August, a criminal case against National Assembly deputy Narek Karapetyan and the head of the executive body of the "Strong Armenia" party, Alik Aleksanyan, was sent to court. Aleksanyan had been under arrest since June 3 .

Aleksanyan is accused of creating a criminal organization along with Narek Karapetyan and others, and leading it. According to the investigation, their goal was to secure a greater number of votes in favor of "Strong Armenia" and the block formed on its basis, as well as to create the impression of a large number of supporters of this political force. To this end, a public organization for the preservation of national values "Po-nashomu" was created, through which, according to the investigation, citizens were bribed to participate in meetings and vote for "Strong Armenia". As a result, the state suffered significant property damage.

The measure of restraint for the representative of "Strong Armenia" Alik Aleksanyan has been replaced with house arrest for a period of three months, News.am reports today.

The decision to release Aleksanyan from custody was made today by the Anti-Corruption Court. Aleksanyan is also prohibited from leaving the country, informs Armenia Today.

The prosecutor requested the court to extend the defendant's arrest for another three months, justifying the request with the risks of Aleksanyan interfering in the criminal proceedings.

The defense, in turn, proposed to replace the arrest with bail of 55 million drams (about 152 thousand dollars) and administrative supervision. Aleksanyan's lawyer Arshak Vardanyan disagreed with the prosecution's motion, stating that the pre-trial proceedings have already been completed, and extrajudicial documents and physical evidence have been attached to the case. Therefore, in the defense's assessment, there are no risks of Aleksanyan interfering in the proceedings.

Vardanyan also stated that out of 111 witnesses in the case, the defense has questions only for three, and the testimonies of the other 108 do not contain incriminating information against Aleksanyan. In the lawyer's assessment, the arrest as a measure of restraint is disproportionate. Other lawyers of Aleksanyan supported Vardanyan's position, as stated in the publication.

It should be noted that the Investigative Committee of Armenia also initiated a criminal case against 37 individuals listed in the case of the arrested Alik Aleksanyan.

The Anti-Corruption Committee stated in April-May that criminal cases were initiated against members of "Strong Armenia", suspected of bribing voters. The statements were accompanied by publications of recorded conversations discussing the amounts of pre-election bribes and conditions for supporting politicians. "Strong Armenia" rejected the accusations, calling the recordings a forgery.

The leader of the "Strong Armenia" block Samvel Karapetyan was arrested on June 18, 2025, on charges of public calls for seizing power after a public conflict with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. On December 30, 2025, the court transferred him to house arrest.

Translated automatically via OpenAI from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/427081