Iravaban.net continues to monitor and follow court cases involving defamation and insult, especially those related to mass media outlets.
In 2024 alone, the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine has recorded 5 victories against “Datablog” company, which operates the Blognews website. It is also interesting that no appeals were filed against any of the verdicts; they have entered into legal force. The company did not even engage a representative for the cases.
The media publications were made during the period from December 28, 2023, to January 31, 2024.
To get answers to several questions regarding both the published news and the verdicts that have entered into legal force, Iravaban.net also approached Blognews, but the website’s representative refused to comment on the topic, only noting that there are court decisions, and all are in favor of ZCMC.
To obtain a comment on the judicial proceedings, we also approached the combine’s representative, advocate Ani Alaverdyan.
“In these recent verdicts, the court has found that there was intent by the media to tarnish the company’s business reputation.
The company has absolutely no goal to silence the media. If the company sees defamatory articles, it first sends a demand in accordance with the procedure established by the RA Law on ‘Mass Media,’ demanding either to publish the company’s position or to refute defamatory information about the company. A demand has been sent in all cases.
There have been cases when information not corresponding to reality was published, and if the media refutes it, naturally, the company has no motive to go to court.
Regarding Blognews, I do not want to evaluate the media outlet’s goals; in any case, they have been continuous in nature over the course of 1 month. We have formed the impression that it was intentional; the articles contained extremely hateful information about the company, which is why the company has received a verdict in its favor for all 5 claims.
They had engaged an advocate who actively participated in all court proceedings, performed judicial actions, submitted motions, and so on. All steps were taken to protect the interests of the responding party. Even in that case, the court, after examining the case materials, came to the conclusion that all necessary elements are present to consider the publication in the context of defamation.
The fact remains that all verdicts have entered into legal force, have not been appealed, and they have fulfilled their obligations,” noted Ani Alaverdyan.
Overall, the 5 verdicts in favor of ZCMC resulted in the recovery of 2 million 636 thousand drams as compensation for defamation, including the amounts of state duty paid.
Verdict of October 10, 2024
The court obligated “Datablog” to publish a refutation regarding the material published on December 28, 2023. In addition, 500 thousand drams were recovered in favor of ZCMC as compensation for defamation.
Verdict of December 6, 2024
The court obligated “Datablog” LLC to publicly refute the material published on January 11, 2024, under the heading “Refutation.” In addition, compensation in the amount of 300 thousand drams was paid, and another 200 thousand drams as reasonable remuneration for the advocate.
Verdict of December 6, 2024
The refutation of the news published on January 9, 2024, on the Blognews website must be organized in such a way that it does not yield to the material being refuted in terms of its placement, formatting, font size and type, as well as the time of publication. The court again decided that compensation in the amount of 300 thousand drams should be provided in favor of ZCMC, as well as 200 thousand drams as reasonable remuneration for the advocate.
Verdict of December 6, 2024
The court also considered defamatory Blognews’ publication about the combine on January 25, 2024. The compensation amount was 500 thousand drams, part of which was allocated for the reasonable remuneration of the advocate.
Verdict of December 6, 2024
The publication that must be refuted was posted on the website on January 31, 2024. The compensation amount remained the same, 500 thousand drams, part of which will be directed to the advocate’s remuneration.
It should be noted that during 2024, ZCMC has filed a total of 7 lawsuits against media outlets, 5 of which had “Datablog” as the respondent.
The other 2 lawsuits were filed regarding materials published on Oragir.News and Tert.am. In the first case, the verdict was also issued in favor of ZCMC, it was not appealed and entered into legal force. In the second case, the verdict issued in favor of the media outlet was appealed by the combine, and the case examination continues.
