Pashinyan sued again as Armenian businessman seeks public apology

Samvel Karapetyan, leader of the opposition Strong Armenia party and a Russian-Armenian businessman, has taken Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to court again, seeking a public apology and compensation over an alleged insult.

“The businessman is seeking to oblige the prime minister to publicly apologise to him for an insult made on May 29 and to pay compensation of 3 million drams (nearly $8,000),” Armenia’s judicial information website reports.

Samvel Karapetyan, head of the Tashir Group, which owns Electric Networks of Armenia, was arrested in June 2025 after publicly criticising the Pashinyan government’s confrontation with the Armenian Apostolic Church and vowing to intervene “in our own way.” He was subsequently charged with calling for the seizure of power, an accusation he has denied as politically motivated.

The case was later expanded to include other economic accusations, while authorities also moved to nationalise his company. After months in pretrial detention, Karapetyan was placed under house arrest and remained a prominent opposition figure, with his Strong Armenia alliance finishing second in the June 2026 parliamentary elections.

The political rivalry has also spilt into the courts, with Karapetyan and Pashinyan involved in multiple defamation lawsuits since 2025.

By Jeyhun Aghazada