According to the research conducted by the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, after the Law on Libel was decriminalized last year, 29 legal suits were brought against journalists and media outlets (mainly against the dailies) on charges insult and libel.
The 30th suit was registered this month. This, however, unlike the previous ones, is considered as an unprecedented case by the experts, since the first time the case against the news outlet has been filed because of the readers’ comments posted on the periodical’s website and not because of the article’s content itself.
Suit against the “Hraparak” daily has been filed by lawyer Arthur Grigoryan, member of the Chamber of Advocates of RA. He is convinced that the newspaper must bear also the responsibility for the readers’ comments on the website.
Moral damage caused by the six comments was estimated 18 million drams (about $47,000) by lawyer Grigoryan. He demands just this much from the “Hraparak” to compensate the moral damage caused to him. Comments, which angered Grigoryan, concerned the article entitled “Are Citizens Victims of Dishonest Lawyers?” published in the electronic version of the “Hraparak” on August 10.
According to the research conducted by the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, after the Law on Libel was decriminalized last year, 29 legal suits were brought against journalists and media outlets (mainly against the dailies) on charges insult and libel.
The 30th suit was registered this month. This, however, unlike the previous ones, is considered as an unprecedented case by the experts, since the first time the case against the news outlet has been filed because of the readers’ comments posted on the periodical’s website and not because of the article’s content itself.
Suit against the “Hraparak” daily has been filed by lawyer Arthur Grigoryan, member of the Chamber of Advocates of RA. He is convinced that the newspaper must bear also the responsibility for the readers’ comments on the website.
Moral damage caused by the six comments was estimated 18 million drams (about $47,000) by lawyer Grigoryan. He demands just this much from the “Hraparak” to compensate the moral damage caused to him. Comments, which angered Grigoryan, concerned the article entitled “Are Citizens Victims of Dishonest Lawyers?” published in the electronic version of the “Hraparak” on August 10.
In his interview on Radio Liberty Arthur Grigoryan has noted that, taking into account the standards of democratic society, a newspaper like the “Hraparak” mustn’t function. “If they need a material for a scandal and not for media activity, then it will be better for them not to function than to defame those they have in their minds.”
In addition to financial reimbursement, the plaintiff has demanded also to arrest the newspaper’s property and bank accounts, as well as ban them to disseminate information related to him.
The newspaper’s editor-in-chief Armine Ohanyan told JNews that the court has seized the bank accounts first, then changed its decision and arrested the newspaper’s property, accepting the arguments that an arrest on bank accounts hampers the publisher’s activity.
“Every time when reading an article I try to understand what kind of lawsuit can be hidden behind it instead of editing the article,” says the “Hraparak” editor Armine Ohanyan adding, “our activity was once again hindered.”
This was the 6th legal suit against the “Hraparak”. Four out of them are still in the process. Overall 26 million drams ($67,800) are demanded from the “Hraparak” by the plaintiffs.
In addition to 18 million drams (about $47,000) requested by lawyer Arthur Grigoryan, 6 million drams ($15,600) are demanded by Robert Kocharyan, the second president of the Republic of Armenia, and 2 more millions ($5,200) by Margarita Khachatryan, Chairwoman of “Zinvor” (“Soldier”) Association of NGOs.
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, in a letter to Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan expressed concern over the growing number of libel suits filed against Armenia’s news outlets. “I welcomed decriminalization of defamation in Armenia in May 2010 as a significant step toward ensuring a media-friendly environment. Regretfully since then, almost 30 civil defamation lawsuits have been brought against newspapers,” Mijatović said.
Mijatović stressed that compensation awarded in civil libel lawsuits should be proportional to actual damages and should not lead to the closure of a news outlet, which would “result in limiting press freedom”.
Source: JNews.am