Epress.am News from Armenia
A Yerevan court today charged local Armenian daily Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”) to pay 2 million 44 thousand AMD (about $5,600 USD) each to three members of parliament (who are also major businessmen): Ruben Hayrapetyan, Samvel Aleksanyan and Levon Sargsyan.
Judge Karine Petrosyan at the RA Court of First Instance of Kentron (Center) and Nork Marash Districts of Yerevan today ruled that the news reported by the daily on Oct. 14, 2010, in an article titled “Seven of the Eight are on the List,” is misinformation.
The three MPs demanded Haykakan Jamanak to retract the story, which they say discredits their honor, dignity and business reputation, as well as compensation in the amount of 2.5 million AMD each — for moral losses and incurred court expenses.
Speaking to Epress.am, Haykakan Jamanak Managing Editor Hayk Gevorgyan called the ruling the usual round of unlawfulness.
“The court is their [the MPs] own court. We didn’t doubt this ruling would happen. For us, nothing unusual has happened. And we are definitely going to appeal this ruling in the Court of Appeals,” he said.
Recall, the article in question stated that Russian law enforcement agencies had created a list in which different Armenian officials and businessmen were named as being connected to a number of criminal cases and with Russian criminal groups. The three plaintiffs were among those named by the paper.
Note, this is the second time in the past two years that a lawsuit has been filed against Haykakan Jamanak. In 2009, Levon Kocharian, the son of former president of Armenia Robert Kocharian, sued the daily for “compensation for damages and retraction of information that harmed his honor and dignity.”
The article in question in this case was published in Feb. 2009 and noted that an intoxicated Levon Kocharian was arrested by police in Dubai in late 2008. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in this case as well and mandated Haykakan Jamanak to pay 3.5 million AMD in compensation to Kocharian.