In Armenia, publisher of "Aikakan Zhamanak" prepares lawsuit to ECtHR

The Limited Liability Company (LLC) "Dareskizb" - the publisher of the newspaper "Aikakan Zhamanak" - will defend its right to the freedom of expression at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The company is preparing a lawsuit and plans to submit it to the court before the end of September.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by the lawyer Vage Grigoryan, who is representing the interests of the LLC "Dareskizb", that the publisher is going to raise two points at the ECtHR: a violation of the freedom of expression and a fair trial.

The decision to apply to the ECtHR was made after on September 9 the Cassation Court of Armenia dismissed the petition of the LLC "Dareskizb", which challenged the decision of the Court of Appeal prescribing the newspaper to pay out compensations to three major entrepreneurs.

Last autumn, three entrepreneurs - Deputies of the National Assembly of Armenia Samvel Alexanyan, Levon Sarkisyan and Ruben Airapetyan - filed a lawsuit against the "Aikakan Zhamanak" (Armenian Time) with a demand to refute the information published in the newspaper on October 14, 2010 in the article "Seven Out of Eight on the List" and pay 2 million drams to each of them as moral compensation, as well as 500,000 to each as compensation for legal costs.

The article in question said, with reference to Smbat Karakhanyan, Chairman of the Moscow-based Armenian Club of Political Studies "Miabanutyun" (Unity), that Russian law enforcement bodies were discussing a list of Armenian officials and MPs, who figure in a number of criminal cases investigated in Russia. The above three businessmen were in the list.

On February 7, 2011, the court of general jurisdiction of the Yerevan communities Centre-Nork-Marash ruled that the information published in the article "Seven Out of Eight on the List" had nothing to do with reality and prescribed the newspaper to publish a refutation within one week after the ruling's entry into force.

Besides, the court obliged the LLC "Dareskizb", the publisher of the newspaper, to pay out 2,044,000 drams (USD 1 = AMD 375) to each of the claimants in compensation for the harm caused to their honour and dignity.

The publisher refused to perform the ruling and filed a counter-claim response to the Court of Appeal; however, the latter upheld the decision of the court of general jurisdiction.

Earlier, Anna Akopyan, Director of the LLC "Dareskizb" told reporters that the judicial ruling in the case of "Oligarchs versus Newspaper" related to the "Aikakan Zhamanak" was political, and that" the "Dareskizb" would not stop fighting and defending the rights of the newspaper.