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Armenian security officers detain opposition leader Karapetyan

Security officers raided the politician’s apartments as part of an investigation being conducted by the General Department for Investigation of Economic Crimes and Smuggling at the republic’s Investigative Committee

YEREVAN, November 4. /TASS/. Officers of the National Security Service of Armenia on Wednesday took Samvel Karapetyan, the leader of the Strong Armenia opposition bloc, away after searching his homes, a TASS correspondent reported.

Security officers raided the politician’s apartments as part of an investigation being conducted by the General Department for Investigation of Economic Crimes and Smuggling at the republic’s Investigative Committee. The businessman was brought out from the back of his house.

News came earlier on Wednesday that Armenian investigators had raided the homes of Samvel Karapetyan and his nephew Narek Karapetyan, the head of the Strong Armenia parliamentary faction. Searches were also conducted at other apartments associated with the two Karapetyans, the party said. The Investigative Committee confirmed this information, saying searches had been conducted at 65 addresses.

The opposition leader was detained as part of a criminal investigation into abuse of authority at his businesses which caused especially large damage to Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), the republic's Investigative Committee explained.

"Members of a criminal group," organized and led by Karapetyan, individual ENA Board members, the CEO and his deputy as well as other senior executives abused their authority in managing the company’s routine operations with the intent to misappropriate property of an especially large value owned by the company," according to investigators. As a result of this activity, ENA incurred losses of around $179 million, the committee added.