Mkrtich Matevosyan, representing himself  as a non-voting moderator of the 2013 Orange Book Prize jury, has responded to a Hetq article published yesterday citing a source claiming that top Orange management instructed the jury  to overlook the work of Mher Yenokyan, now serving a life sentence for murder.

A Hetq source close to the awards committee, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us that Orange Armenia Marketing Director Aram Mkrtchyan approached the jury members and instructed them to overlook Yenokyan’s book in their deliberations.

Matevosyan, in a post on Hetq’s Facebook page, he had instructed members to vote solely based on the literary merits of the three finalists in the Short Story category, in which Yenokyan was one.

In his response Matevosyan claims that several jury members has confided that had it not been for the fact that Yenokyan was serving a life sentence, his book “Toward Lifelong Freedom”, would have never made it to the finals.

The implication is that some jury members took pity on Yenokyan and let his book make it to the final three.

Matevosyan adds that his suggestion that only literary factors serve as the basis for deciding the winner was accepted by all and the vote was free and fair.

Hetq’s source asserts that quite the opposite happened and that Mkrtchyan made it clear that they should steer clear of considering Yenokyan’s book as a possible winner due to the bad publicity Orange Armenia might be subject to.

Photo (from left): Orange Armenia Marketing Director Aram Mkrtchyan and Mkrtich Matevosyan