The Central Election Commission of Armenia allowed criminal prosecution of Narek Karapetyan.

The Central Election Commission of Armenia agreed to involve parliament member from "Strong Armenia" Narek Karapetyan as a defendant, but rejected the Prosecutor General's request for his arrest.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the Central Election Commission of Armenia returned to the prosecutor's office the request for initiating criminal prosecution against Narek Karapetyan, who heads the electoral list of the "Strong Armenia" bloc, as well as for four other candidates from the bloc. The decision was made because the powers of the candidates for deputies expired on July 4. The "Strong Armenia" bloc will take the mandates and work in parliament, as in the absence of a constitutional majority for the ruling party, this will allow blocking a number of decisions, said Narek Karapetyan.

The Central Election Commission of Armenia rejected the prosecutor's request for consent to deprive the representative of the "Strong Armenia" bloc, who received a deputy mandate, Narek Karapetyan, of his freedom, reported "Armenpress" citing the advisor to the Attorney General of Armenia, Lusine Martirosyan.

22:52 21.07.2026

The CEC of Armenia handed mandates to the elected members of parliament

The first session of the Armenian parliament of the ninth convocation, formed as a result of the June elections, is scheduled for August 2.

Today, the CEC agreed to involve Narek Karapetyan, who received a mandate as a member of the Armenian parliament the day before, as a defendant, reported lawyer Aram Vardevanyan.
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"The CEC approved the decision to consent to involve Narek Karapetyan as a defendant. This does not mean a complete deprivation of immunity — it is solely about bringing charges," Yerevan.Today quoted him as saying.

The second request, for consent to impose a preventive measure in the form of arrest on Narek Karapetyan, was returned to the Prosecutor General's Office by the CEC, Vardevanyan reported.

"I want to note that we believe the previous decision should have been returned as well, since there was no legal mechanism for it. Nevertheless, the most likely scenario is that the process of bringing shameful, illegal, and absurd charges against Narek Karapetyan will begin soon with the selection of a milder preventive measure," the agency quoted the lawyer as saying.

The prosecutor's office refused to disclose what charges are related to the requests. A representative of the "Strong Armenia" bloc, Aram Vardevanyan, did not rule out that it concerns a document previously returned by the CEC or an investigation regarding foreign citizenship, reported Armenia Today on July 21.