On February 7 court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan released the judgment on the case of RA National Assembly MPs Samvel Aleksanian (unaffiliated), Levon Sargsian and Ruben Hayrapetian (members of Republican Party of Armenia faction) versus the founder of “Haykakan Zhamanak” daily, “Dareskizb” LLC. As it has been reported, the reason for the suit became the piece “Seven of the Eight Are in the List”, published in “Haykakan Zhamanak” on October 14, 2010. The article told that some of the Armenian officials and businessmen, including the abovementioned RA NA deputies (who are at the same time major entrepreneurs), appear in a number of criminal cases, instituted by the Russian law enforcement bodies. The MPs demanded to refute the information that discredits their honor, dignity and business reputation, as well as to compensate the moral loss in the amount of 2 million AMD each. Besides, each of the plaintiffs assessed its’ court expenses with 500,000 AMD (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, January 10-20, 2011).
At the session of February 7 the court partially secured the suit, by obliging “Dareskizb” LLC to publish a refutation, to pay off 2 million AMD as a moral compensation and the state duty for filling the court of 44,000 AMD to each of the MPs. Thus, the overall amount to be compensated by “Haykakan Zhamanak” founder makes 6 million 132 thousand AMD (about $ 16,800).
As YPC was informed at the editorial office of “Haykakan Zhamanak”, “Dareskizb” LLC intends to appeal this court decision.
