Today, the Investigative Journalists NGO received a notice from the Kentron and Nork-Marash Court stating that it had decided to accept a legal suit filed by Shinforum LLC, a company engaged in road and bridge construction.

In the suit, Shinforum Director Tigran Gasbaryan argues that articles written by Hetq columnist Daniel Ioannisyan (Fatal Fraud: Tsitsernakaberd Highway Constructed with Kickbacks), tarnish the reputation of his company

Gasbaryan is requesting that the court obligate Hetq to refute all “slanderous” information contained in the articles and to pay 2 million AMD in compensation, in addition to 44,000 AMD for state fees.

The articles discuss whether the Tsitsernakaberd Highway, commissioned by the Yerevan community corresponds to building standards.

Even though the Hetq articles make no mention of the name of the contractor, Gasparyan argues that the name was widely publicized during the construction of the roadway and that Hetq was out to tarnish his reputation.

We should like to note that the plaintiff never contacted Hetq after the articles were published but took the matter straight to court.

The Investigative Journalists NGO has two weeks to forward its response to the court.