“Telephone Justice”: Amsterdam Slams Armenian Government Over Karapetyan Case

(Horizon Weekly) – American attorney Robert Amsterdam has sharply criticized the Armenian government, asserting that the legal proceedings against businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan are being manipulated through political interference. According to him, the case reflects a judicial system operating under government control rather than independent legal oversight.

Amsterdam drew particular attention to an incident he described as emblematic of the problem: a media platform associated with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s family publicized the extension of Karapetyan’s pre-trial detention before the court had formally issued its ruling. Only afterward did the judge officially prolong the detention by two months. For Amsterdam, this sequence clearly signals the presence of “telephone justice” and confirms his view that the courts no longer function autonomously.

He emphasized that Karapetyan has now spent five months in pre-trial custody without credible evidence presented against him, arguing that the authorities are using detention as a punitive and coercive measure rather than a legitimate legal step. He characterized the treatment of his client as a breach of both legal standards and basic humanitarian principles.

The lawyer also linked the case to broader actions by Armenian regulators, pointing to the Public Services Regulatory Commission’s recent decision to revoke the operating license of Electric Networks of Armenia. He described the move as an “economic attack” carried out despite an interim order from the SCC Arbitration Institute explicitly barring such action.

Amsterdam insisted that the pattern of decisions taken against Karapetyan and his business interests is not driven by legal considerations but by political objectives and personal motives. He vowed that his legal team will pursue every international mechanism available to contest what he called the Armenian government’s unlawful and retaliatory conduct.