On November 30, 2012, the RA Court of Cassation returned the appeal of the newspaper Zhoghovourd which sought to overturn a lower court verdict that found in favor of former Gegharkunik Regional Governor Nver Poghosyan.

The RA Court of Appeals also rejected the newspaper’s petition on September 6 of this year.

The case stems from an October 2011 article in the paper claiming that Poghosyan pocketed a $3,000 bribe in return for proclaiming a certain individual as the winner in a local competition to fill the post of history teacher in the village of Tutujur.

The paper said the allegation was made by another candidate for the post.

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.

In its verdict, the Court of Cassation stated that the newspaper failed to provide documentation that the allegations were indeed true before publishing them.