On May 31 RA Civil Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the court of general jurisdiction on the suit of Hayk Babukhanian, Chairman of the Editorial Board of “Iravunk” newspaper and “Iravunk” founder, “Iravunk Media” LLC, versus founder of Report.am news portal, “Khmbagir” LLC, and the portal’s observer Edik Andreasian. As it has been reported, 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”. The plaintiffs demanded to publish a refutation and exact from each respondent 3 million AMD (about $ 8,000) as moral damage compensation, caused by libel and insult. The suit was submitted to consideration on November 22, 2010. On February 27, 2012 court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan revoked the suit, binding the plaintiffs to pay the state duty for filing the court of 236,000 AMD in proportion to financial claims (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, February 24 – March 1, 2012).
At the May 31 session the RA Civil Court of Appeal, in its turn, held the complaint unjustified and bound the plaintiffs to pay off the state duty for filing the Court of Appeal in the amount of 390,000 AMD (again proportional to financial claims).
