On November 7 at the court of primary jurisdiction of Center and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan a session on the suit of Andranik Poghosian versus "Taregir" electronic daily was held. The suit referred to the article of Lilit Seyranian "The Price of Blood" (published in "Taregir" on January 24, 2002) on the case of murder of the plaintiff’s brother Poghos Poghosian, committed last autumn at Yerevan "Aragast" cafe by Aghamal Harutiunian, the bodyguard of the RA President. The publication, quoting a member of the Supreme Body of "Dashnaktsoutiun" party, said that "the defendant on the case (…) Aghamal Harutiunian gave $90,000 to the brother of Poghos Poghosian Andranik Poghosian for the latter not to oppose the "scenario" presented in court".
The plaintiff Andranik Poghosian demanded the newspaper to either publish a refutation of the article or give proofs to the information contained, in particular, to disclose the source of information. The author of the article Lilit Seyranian refused to do this.
On the same day the court passed a decision obliging "Taregir" to publish a refutation on the article "The Price of Blood".
It should be noted that this demand to the journalist and the media to disclose the information source was introduced in the judicial practice of independent Armenia for the first time.
