On November 19, Information Disputes Council released an opinion on the court litigation upon the suit of blogger Tigran Kocharian versus the founder of “Chorrord Inknishkhanutiun” daily, “Trespassers W.” LLC. As we have reported, the hearings on the case started on September 24, 2012 at the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash Administrative Districts of Yerevan. The subject of the litigation was the piece “Fascist and Elephant: Save the Elephants”, published in “Chorrord Inknishkhanutiun” on July 13, 2012. The piece contained critics about Tigran Kocharian, whose Internet nickname is “Elephant”. The plaintiff demanded refutation and awards in the amount of 3,500,000 AMD (about $ 8,600), from which 3 million AMD as moral damage, caused by libel and insult, and 500,000 AMD – attorney fees (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, November 2-8, 2012).
The Information Disputes Council noted that even though the court case is still pending, the parties continue accusing each other by using the media and other platforms, putting the contents of the disputed article as a subject for public debate. Taking into account that the piece does not raise any issue of public significance, but only includes thoughts and comments of personal nature, there is no public interest of receiving information about the court proceedings, the IDC stressed. The IDC called on the conflicting parties to limit by finding remedies of the dispute at the courtroom, to show their good will and refrain from imparting redundant publicity to the case before the proceedings end. In its turn, the IDC abstained from providing opinion about the subject matter of the dispute, since the case is still ongoing, no court act has been adopted, while outside the courtroom the discussions about the conflict are exacerbating.
The opinion of the Information Disputes Council is available in Armenian and in English at https://www.ypc.am/expert/ln/eng.
