On October 10 Karen Andreasian, RA Human Rights Defender, delivered a message to the journalists, in which he announced that will soon address to the RA Constitutional Court questioning the constitutionality of RA Civil Code provisions on defamation.
According to the ombudsman, the negative attitude in the journalistic community towards the Civil Code provisions on libel and insult is conditioned by the improper and unfair application of the law by the judges in some defamation disputes. For the protection of freedom of expression, the real need is in the securing of effective public control over the implementation of the law and the administration of justice, considers Karen Andreasian. Namely for this, the ombudsman called the judges to guide by the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, and initiated the Information Disputes Council (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, April 1-7, 2011, and April 29 – May 5, 2011).
On October 13 RA Human Rights Defender appealed to the Constitutional Court questioning the compliance of Article 1087.1 of RA Civil Code (“Order and Conditions of Compensation of Damage to the Honor, Dignity or Business Reputation”) to Article 14, Parts 1,2,3 of Article 27, and Article 43 of the Main Law.