Today, the RA Court of Appeals postponed its hearing of the petition of the Zhoghovourd newspaper seeking to overturn a lower court’s decision in favor of Gegharkuniq Regional Governor Nver Poghosyan.

The Regional Governor had sued the paper for publishing the comments of Tutoujour village resident Anna Torosyan, who alleged that Poghosyan had accepted $3,000 as a bribe, promising that she would win the post of history teacher at the local school.

The reason for today’s delay was the absence of any confirmation that Torosyan was properly informed of the date.  

On March 19, 2012, the Gegharkuniq Regional Court handed down a verdict obligating the newspaper to pay 200,000 AMD in slander compensation to Poghosyan.

Earlier hopes that the two sides would settle out of court were put to rest when lawyers of both sides stated that no such common ground had been found.

The next trial was scheduled for July 2.