On January 10, 2012 founder of “Aravot” daily, “Aravot Oratert” LLC, sent a letter to court of general jurisdiction of Lori region informing that it refuses to participate as a third party in the hearings on the suits of Vano Eghiazarian, Elder of Lernapat village. This mainly concerns the two suits on the protection of honor, dignity and business reputation submitted by the Elder versus his villagers Boris Ashrafian and Fahrad Voskanian in which the “Aravot” founder appears as a third party. On August 19, 2011 “Aravot” issued a piece “Who Slanders Whom?”, which reported about the August 18 protest action against the Elder, held by Lernapat villagers in Yerevan in front of the RA Government. The piece also cited the villagers’ critical expressions about their Elder, including the ones of Boris Ashrafian and Fahrad Voskanian.
Both suits were taken into consideration by court of general jurisdiction of Lori region, but assigned to different judges. Meanwhile, as the statement of “Aravot” stresses, the daily has only one evidence – the record of the interviews of the daily correspondent with the Village Elder, and with three of his villagers during the protest action in front of the RA Government. However, this circumstance was not taken into consideration by the court, which had assigned the suits to different judges. Besides, the founder of “Aravot” noted that as of today the Village Elder has not specified the claims of the lawsuits.
