By Liana Sayadyan
and Tatevik Shaljyan

Of the 37defamation and insult suits filed against mass media outlets in 2011 being covered by Hetq, 30 are still being litigated in 2012. According to 2012 1^st quarter statistics, six of these cases have been concluded in the RA court system and verdicts have been handed down in five. One case was sent to the Court of Cassation. 18 cases are still being litigated in Armenia’s general courts of jurisdiction. 

To date, 9,796,560 AMD has been paid in compensation for defamation and insult. 

In libel cases examined this year, only one has been amicably reconciled by mutual agreement of the parties – “Robert Kocharyan v. Hraparak”

In two cases (Vano Yeghiazaryan v. Hetq reporter Adrineh Torosyan, Tereza Shahverdyan v. Hetq reporter Adrineh Torosyan), the plaintiffs reviewed and modified their compensation demands as per the guidelines in the Constitutional Court’s November 15, 2011 decision. Vano Yeghiazaryan changed his 1million AMD demand to a symbolic 1AMD. Tereza Shahaverdyan demanded 200,000 AMD instead of the original 2 million. In two cases (“Glendale Hills v. Zhamanak”, “Never Poghosyan v. Zhoghovurd”) the courts handed down verdicts setting lower compensation awards than demanded.

Completed Cases

1.    Bella and Setrak Kocharyan v. Zhamanak daily newspaper publisher and founder Skizb Media Center, Ltd – The Court of Cassation refused the petition of the plaintiff seeking a nullification of a October 11, 2011 Court of Appeals decision, thus letting stand a June 6, 2011 verdict of the lower court according to which the newspaper was ordered to pay the Kocharyan 1million AMD for insult and 2 million for defamation. 

2.    Hetq newspaper reporter Grisha Balasanyan v. RA National Assembly MP Ruben Hayrapetyan – The Court of Cassation refused to hear the petition brought by the reporter appealing the October 10, 2011 verdict of the Court of Appeals.

3.    Vano Yeghiazaryan v. Zhamanak (a 3^rd party litigant of defendant Gevorg Melkonyan) – The Court of Cassation refused to hear Melkonyan’s petition regarding an October 26, 2011 verdict by the Court of Appeals.

4.    Litigants Robert Kocharyan and Hraparak reached a reconciliation agreement as set forth in the February 15 verdict of Yerevan’s Kentron and Nork-Marash General Court of Jurisdiction. Three days later, the newspaper published a retraction of the February 12, 2011 article that Kocharyan argued was libelous.

5.    On March 7, plaintiff Benik Harutyunyan modified his compensation demand of the Zhoghovurd newspaper, dropping it from 2 million AMD to 200,000. Harutyunyan argued that the press has an important role to play in the building of a democratic nation and that he didn’t want to inflict excessive damage.

6.    On March 24, Aram Chatinyan withdrew his legal suit against photo-journalist Gagik Shamshyan. Chatinyan had sued Shamshyan over an August 24, 2011 article in aravot.am.

Cases sent to the Court of Cassation

1. On September 20, 2011, the General Court of jurisdiction partially sustained the suit of Tatul Manaseryan against the daily newspaper Zhamanak, obliging the paper to issue a retraction of the original article in question and to compensate Manaseryan in the amount of 510,000 AMD. On December 15, the Court of Appeals threw out the newspaper’s petition to appeal. The case is now at the Court of Cassation.

Completed cases at Court of General Jurisdiction

1.     On January 30, 2011, the Kentron and Nork-Marash Court of General Jurisdiction partially sustained the suit filed by Glendale Hills against the newspaper Zhamanak, obliging the paper to pay the plaintiff 200,000 AMD in compensatory defamation damages and 300,000 for incurred legal fees, and 10,000 and 40,000 for state fees. Zhamanak was also ordered to publish a retraction of an August 26, 2010 article entitled “$1,000 for Silence”. Glendale Hills had demanded 2 million in defamation and 500,000 for legal fees.

2.     On February 27, the Kentron and Nork-Marash General Court of Jurisdiction threw out the libel suit filed by Hayk Babukhanyan and Iravunk Media Ltd. against report.am and Edik Andreasyan. The plaintiffs had argued that an article by Andreasyan was defamatory and were demanded 6million AMD in compensation.

3.     On March 7, the Kentron and Nork-Marash Court of General Jurisdiction threw out the suit filed by attorney Artur Grigoryan against the daily newspaper Hraparak, arguing that it was without substantiation. Grigoryan argued that   comments posted by readers responding to an August 10, 2011 hraparak.am article were defamatory and was seeking 18 million AMD in compensation.

4.     On March 12, the Kentron and Nork-Marash Court of General Jurisdiction threw out the libel suit filed by Hayk Babukhanyan against analyst Edik Andreasyan and report.am website editor Abel Mikayelyan, arguing it was unsubstantiated. The plaintiff had demanded that the site issue a public apology, print the full court verdict, and 1 million AMD in compensatory damages.

5.     On March 19, the Gegharkuniq Regional Court partially sustained the libel suit filed by Never Poghosyan against the Zhoghovurd newspaper and Anna Torosyan. The court sustained the plaintiff’s demand that the paper publish a retraction of the article in question (“The Regional Governor took a bribe”; October 7, 2011 edition). Regional Governor Poghosyan also sought 2.5 million AMD from the paper in  damages for defamation and insult, but the court decided to set the amount at 200,000 (100,000 in compensation and 100,000 for legal fees). 

Ongoing court cases