On February 27 court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan revoked the suit of Hayk Babukhanian, Chairman of the Editorial Council of “Iravunk” newspaper, and “Iravunk” founder, “Iravunk Media” LLC, versus founder of Report.am news portal, “Khmbagir” LLC, and Report.am observer Edik Andreasian. The subject matter of the case was the September 1, 2010 piece of Report.am “The Right of ‘Iravunk’ on the Edge of Hayk Babukhanian’s Sword”. Plaintiffs demanded to refute the discrediting information, as contained in the piece, as well as exact from each respondent 3 million AMD (about $ 8,000) as moral damage compensation, caused by libel and insult. This suit was submitted to consideration on November 22, 2010; the hearings started on January 27, 2011.
The court justified the declination of the suit, particularly by the violation of Point 13 of Article 1087.1 of RA Civil Code (“Order and Conditions of Compensation of Damage to the Honor, Dignity or Business Reputation”) by the plaintiffs, setting the term of lodging a defamation suit for one month. Besides, the court bound the plaintiffs paying the state duty for filing the court of 236,000 AMD in proportion to financial claims.
It should be noted that the same court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan considers another suit by Hayk Babukhanian versus Report.am founder, and its observer Edik Andreasian. It disputes the article “When Forcing the Unpromptable” (stored on Report.am on March 25, 2011) and its’ readers comments. Along with a refutation on the information discrediting honor, dignity and business reputation, Hayk Babukhanian also demands to compensate the moral damage of 1 million AMD (more than $ 2,500) and the court expenses. Together with the suit – submitted to consideration on April 22, 2011 – a petition was secured that requested to prohibit the respondent diffusing any information on the abovementioned dispute regarding the piece “The Right of ‘Iravunk’ on the Edge of Hayk Babukhanian’s Sword”. The hearings on the case started on June 15, 2011 (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, June 10-16, 2011). The ruling will be released on March 12, 2012.
