Narek Karapetyan - Russian citizen? Armenia's investigative committee opens case

Armenia's Investigative Committee has accused Narek Karapetyan — nephew of businessman and prime ministerial candidate Russian oligarch Samvel Karapetyan, who heads the election list of the alliance "Strong Armenia" — of concealing foreign citizenship.

As stated in the Investigative Committee's message, the basis for initiating proceedings was a report of a crime received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Sputnik Armenia reports.

According to the investigation, parliamentary candidate N.K., nominated first on the list of the "Strong Armenia" bloc in the upcoming elections to the National Assembly, while having been warned of liability for providing false information, deliberately concealed information about the presence or prior possession of citizenship of another state.

"He submitted an application to the Migration and Citizenship Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs containing false information that he is not a citizen of another state," the agency noted.

The Investigative Committee believes that in this way Karapetyan concealed a circumstance preventing him from obtaining the status of an official.

"Based on this report, criminal proceedings have been initiated under the article on concealment of information preventing the acquisition or retention of official status. A preliminary investigation is underway," the statement said.

The Central Election Commission of Armenia told Sputnik Armenia that information on the election lists of all political forces is posted on the agency's official website.

"The CEC is not a verifying body and does not have the relevant powers. Candidate registration is carried out on the basis of a certificate provided by the Migration and Citizenship Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs," the commission noted.

Earlier, Narek Karapetyan stated that he had never held any citizenship other than Armenian.

Earlier, Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alen Simonyan published several screenshots on social media showing extracts from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. It lists the name Narek Karenovich Karapetyan with an indication of his citizenship — the Russian Federation. The record of the information was entered in August 2020. In the publication, Simonyan wrote: "Narek Karapetyan — Russian citizen?"