Tereza Shahverdyan, a Dean at the Vanadzor Pedagogical Institute, has dropped her 2 million AMD compensation demand of Hetq reporter Andrineh Torosyan to 200,000 AMD.

This is just the latest twist in the defamation suit Dean Shahverdyan filed with the courts over a May 13, 2011 article penned by Torosyan entitled “"Unhealthy Passions at the Vanadzor Pedagogical Institute".

The May 13 Hetq article there was a passage regarding Tereza Shahverdyan, Dean of the Pedagogical Faculty at the Hovhannes Tumanyan State Pedagogical Institute.

Shahverdyan and Liza Sargsyan, another instructor at the school, had gone to the Vanadzor police station alleging that Ashoughyan had been making death threats against Lusineh Sargsyan, the daughter of Liza.

The article in question goes on to reveal that the charge was an intentional falsehood (false denunciation) and that Shahverdyan had taken part at the urging of the Institute Rector Gurgen Khachatryan.

In her original suit, Shahverdyan had also demanded Hetq publish a retraction of the alleged slanderous passages in the article. The dean still demands a public apology from Torosyan in the pages of Hetq. Shahverdyan has also submitted a new retraction text for Hetq to print.

Dean Shahverdayn says that she changed her mind based on a recent RA Constitutional Court decision regarding the constitutionality of Article 1087.1 of the Civil Code.

In its decision, the Constitutional Court advised plaintiffs to take into account the financial situation of the defendant and seek “reasonable” compensation for defamation and insult.