Samvel Karapetyan, a detained businessman and philanthropist, has filed civil lawsuits against Hayk Konjoryan and Arsen Torosyan, both members of the ruling Civil Contract party, in Yerevan’s Court of General Jurisdiction, as revealed by Datalex.

Karapetyan demands that each MP retract alleged defamatory and insulting statements and pay AMD 9 million in compensation, according to Sputnik Armenia.

Arsen Torosyan responded on Facebook, stating: “What an honor. They think money lets them hire dozens of lawyers and sue everyone left and right to silence us? Seriously?”

The lawsuit centers on a 2025 National Assembly speech in which Torosyan said: “There are two statements I want to address. Their umbilical cords were seemingly cut at Lubyanka, in the FSB headquarters. The first one is Arshak. Now, let me turn to the other hero, none other than Samvel Karapetyan.”

Karapetyan considers these statements insulting and is also demanding a public apology from Torosyan. He further asks the court to compel Torosyan to deny claims made in the same speech that he was acting on instructions from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to undermine Armenia’s legal government and incite violence.

Konjoryan is accused of making insulting statements such as: “You are merely the oligarchic wing of the blasphemous marriage between clerics and tycoons,” “you’re servile clowns and bootlickers,” and “today, Ktrich Nersisyan’s hood resembles a warhead beneath which all kinds of criminals have gathered—oligarchs, ex-plunderers, fugitives, blasphemers, and electoral abusers—including Samvel Karapetyan.”

Karapetyan also seeks retractions from Konjoryan over June 17–18 remarks in Parliament, including: “Samvel Karapetyan has taken it upon himself to protect certain disgraceful clerics, showing agent-like ambitions, acting as a Trojan Horse or rather a Trojan Hood,” and that “Karapetyan has for decades looted the Armenian people and state, received state property at dirt-cheap prices, and presented minor returns as philanthropy.”

In both cases, Karapetyan demands that the MPs publish apologies and retractions on their Facebook pages. If technically impossible, they must publish them within five working days after the ruling becomes final in a widely distributed national newspaper with at least 5,000 copies.

On June 18, Karapetyan was detained for two months and transferred to Armavir Penitentiary for “making a public call to seize power.” Just hours before, he had voiced support for the Armenian Apostolic Church, saying: “I stand with our Church and people… Everything will be fine; the people will speak, and they’ll realize they were wrong.”

In response, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote: “Why did the wicked ‘clergy’ and their wicked ‘philanthropists’ suddenly activate? No worries, we’ll silence them again. For good.” He later added that the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) should be nationalized swiftly.