Armenia’s Investigative Committee announced Wednesday that it had opened a criminal case involving Narek Karapetyan, the top candidate on the “Strong Armenia” alliance’s electoral list, over allegations that he concealed his foreign citizenship status while registering for parliamentary elections.

Narek Karapetyan is the nephew of “Strong Armenia” alliance leader Samvel Karapetyan.

Requirements for running for parliament in Armenia include having resided in the country for at least the previous four years and holding exclusively Armenian citizenship throughout that period.

According to the Investigative Committee, Narek Karapetyan concealed his citizenship status while submitting documents to the authorities.

“According to a report of an apparent crime received by the Yerevan City Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Armenia from the Police of Armenia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, parliamentary candidate Narek Karapetyan — who was nominated as the lead candidate of the ‘Strong Armenia’ alliance for the June 7, 2026 National Assembly elections — despite having been warned about the legal liability for providing false information, deliberately concealed information about possessing or having possessed foreign citizenship. Specifically, he submitted a false application to the Migration and Citizenship Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs stating that he was not a citizen of another state, thereby concealing information about foreign citizenship that would prevent him from obtaining the status of a public official,” the statement issued by the Investigative Committee said.

It added that criminal proceedings had been initiated under Part 1 of Article 449 of Armenia’s Criminal Code, which concerns concealing information that obstructs obtaining or retaining the status of a public official.

On May 19, reports circulated online claiming that, according to data from Russia’s Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Narek Karapetyan had been listed as a Russian citizen as of 2020.

A document allegedly confirming this was also published.

However, Karapetyan denied the claim during a press briefing, insisting that he holds only Armenian citizenship and has never held foreign citizenship.

By law, even if a candidate held foreign citizenship outside the four-year requirement period, they are still required to disclose it.