Judge of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan (now his powers are suspended, ed.) David Grigoryan had filed a lawsuit in September 2019 against Liparit Melikjanyan, a member of the Supreme Judicial Council.
The reason for lawsuit was Melikjanyan’s interview to Iravaban.net on 13 August.
In the interview, Melikjanyan made the following statement. “Without getting acquainted with the factual circumstances, the lawyers organize collecting signatures, gather and support Davit Grigoryan. Who are they protecting from? Let’s put aside David Grigoryan’s factor. What does it mean that the person, the judge, appoints a court session without notifying the parties and on the day of that court session, he and his court secretary, busy with their family affairs, or I do not know, have a soft drink sitting in a cafe, later, by falsifying the minutes of that court session, they sign and include them in the court cases? And is this considered normal? In other words, the official forgery of a document by a judge can be interpreted as widespread in the judiciary and is it normal? I took the responsibility of signing this decision with great responsibility. I realize my responsibility that if the judge has to falsify an official document and there are reasonable doubts about it at the SJC, then the SJC must definitely satisfy that motion.”
According to the court decision, Iravaban.net was included as a third party in the case.
Grigoryan had demanded 2 million drams from Melikjanyan, as well as to oblige him to deny the information considered defamatory through the news website. On 14 April, 2021, the Court of First Instance, presided over by Judge Karine Petrosyan, rejected the lawsuit on the grounds that the disseminated information had nothing to do with David Grigoryan..
On 14 May, 2021, Grigoryan’s representative filed an appeal. On 11 March, 2022, the Court of Appeals, composed of Presiding Judge Naira Margaryan, Judges Karen Chilingaryan and Margarita Hartenyan, decided to leave the decision of the Court of First Instance unchanged. It has entered into legal force.
