Samvel Karapetyan and his family have won the urgent arbitration case brought against the Government of the Republic of Armenia. The Karapetyan family initiated the arbitration case at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) in accordance with the procedure established by the Agreement on the Promotion and Protection of Investments signed between the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Government of the Republic of Cyprus on January 18, 1995. A representative of the Government of the Republic of Armenia also participated in the consideration of the case.
On July 22, 2025, the urgent arbitration institution of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce obliged the Republic of Armenia to refrain from applying the provisions of the recently adopted Laws of the Republic of Armenia “On Energy” and “On the Public Services Regulatory Authority” to the Closed Joint-Stock Company “Electric Networks of Armenia”, as well as from further actions to seize the Closed Joint-Stock Company “Electric Networks of Armenia”.
The arbitration concluded that urgent measures of protection were required because the actions of the Republic of Armenia “raise serious doubts about the compliance with the Agreement on Mutual Protection of Investments between Armenia and Cyprus.” The arbitration also noted that “in the absence of urgent measures of protection, it will be difficult for the claimants to obtain full compensation for damages if they lose control over the company or, even worse, cease to be its owners.” The decision of the emergency arbitration is subject to mandatory execution by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.