A Yerevan court today prolonged the pre-trial detention of Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan by two months.

Karapetyan, owner of the Tashir Group, was arrested in June after he gave an interview in which he denounced those politicians who have recently called for a new leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Karapetyan said the following in the interview:

“A small group, forgetting the history of Armenia, the history of the Armenian Church for thousands of years, attacked the Armenian Church, the Armenian people... Since I have always been on the side of the Armenian Church and the Armenian people, I will have a direct participation. If politicians fail, then we will also participate in all this in our own way."

The Tashir Group includes more than two hundred companies representing various business sectors: real estate development, finance, industry, construction, energy, trade, restaurant business and the entertainment industry.

Karapetyan has announced plans to form a political team to lead a movement designed to oust Nikol Pashinyan as Armenia’s prime minister.