On July 4, RA Court of Cassation ruled on the dispute between Margarita Khachatrian, Chairwoman of “Zinvor” (“Soldier”) Association of NGOs, and “Hraparak” daily founder, “Hraparak Oratert” LLC. Hraparak.am, the newspaper’s website, reported about this on the same day. As we have informed, Margarita Khachatrian had contested at court the piece about her visit to one of the military units. The piece was published in “Hraparak” on April 21, 2011. The Head of “Zinvor” demanded refutation, moral damage for libel and insult in the amount of 2 million AMD (about $ 5,400) and the court costs. Later, Margarita Khachatrian dropped the financial claims towards “Hraparak” founder, demanding only refutation. On July 30, 2012, the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash Administrative Districts of Yerevan dismissed the lawsuit. Margarita Khachatrian appealed this ruling. On November 23, 2012, RA Civil Court of Appeals stroke down the ruling of Court of General Jurisdiction, obliged “Hraparak” to publish a refutation, and bound its founder to compensate the court costs of Margarita Khachatrian in the amount of 14,000 AMD (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, November 23-29, 2012).
On December 21, 2012, the founder of “Hraparak” contested the ruling of the second instance court at the Court of Cassation, which submitted the complaint into consideration on February 21, 2013, and examined it on July 4. The Court of Cassation abolished the ruling of the Civil Court of Appeals, thus sustaining the July 30, 2012 decision of the Court of General Jurisdiction, which had dismissed the suit of Margarita Khachatrian.
