Today, on January 11, Court of General Jurisdiction of Ararat and Vayots Dzor regions, presided by Judge Sergey Sahakyan, denied two NGOs’ lawsuit against former Justice Minister, current Chief of Staff, General Secretaryof the National Assembly Hrayr Tovmasyan.
“Europe In Law Association” and “The Foundation Against the Violation of Law (FAVL)” NGOs pointed out in the appeal, that Hrayr Tovmasyan had defamed their reputation. They demanded public apology, as well as compensation of 1 million AMD.
The representative of former Minister of Justice, Aram Orbelyan, his former deputy represents Mr. Tovmasyan’s rights in the court, said during the conversation with us, that such decision was expected: “The arguments were presented within the framework of the court case, so the decision was predicable for us, as the case, in essence, was not complicated.”
Such outcome of the case was not surprising for the plaintiff either. Kristina Gevorgyan, the lawyer of “The Foundation Against the Violation of Law” NGO said: “We expected such an outcome. This decision creates a practice, that officials can defame any social organization within the framework of their activities and not bear any responsibility.”
Kristina Gevorgyan believes that the judge was not unbiased from the very first trial sessions: “Numerous procedural violations took place, in particular associated with the photo and video recording, refusal of two petitions and postponement of the trial.”
Let us remind, that, according to the appeal, on March 30, 2016, during the meeting of 4+4+4 format about the new code, in response to the statement of the senior legal adviser Tigran Yegoryan of “Europe In Law Association” NGO who said, “According to our opinion, the organizations, which conducted observation missions, also believe that the government forged the elections”, Hrayr Tovmasyan said: “The obserever organizations … are demagogue, semi-literate and illiterate, and are supported from abroad.” The lawyers of plaintiff organizations Tigran Yegoryan, Lusine Hakobyan and Kristina Gevorgyan noted in their appeal, that Tovmasyan’s statement was public (over 12 participants were present at the meeting) and conscious, because, as a legal specialist, he could not have been unaware of the defamatory nature of his statements.
G.T.
