Arman Avetisyan, son of well-known Armenian painter Minas Avetisyan, launched a lawsuit with the Shirak District Court of First Instant against Asparez Journalists’ Club President Levon Barseghyan. The suit is titled “On demands to refute information discrediting honor and dignity, to mandate a public apology and to compensate for damages.” Avetisyan is asking that Barseghyan be mandated to publicly apologize to him, to publish the court’s ruling on the Asparez website at www.asparez.am with the note that “Asparez Journalists’ Club President L. Barseghyan has been mandated by a RA Court of First Instance of Shirak Marz ruling to apologize to Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Minas Avetisyan Cultural Charitable Fund A. Avetisyan for defamation and insult” and to exact from L. Barseghyan for A. Avetisyan 2 million drams ($5,410 USD) — 500,000 for insult and 1.5 million for defamation —, as well as 200,000 drams ($540 USD) for the plaintiff’s defense. 

 

The details of moving Minas Avetisyan’s frescoes from Gyumri to Yerevan are well known — I won’t detail them here. Also known is Gyumri residents’ fight to keep the frescoes where they are and restore them.

 

During this incident, Levon Barseghyan published on the Asparez website articles and statements bearing such titles as “There are things which are not forgiven”, “Arman Avetisyan is telling lies for incomprehensible reasons” and “They were going to attack the family contract?”, a few statements found in which the plaintiff considers defamatory and libellous. However, after these articles were published, Avetisyan sent an official letter to the Asparez Journalists’ Club editors, asking them to retract the information. The journalists’ club basically met this demand, publishing Arman Avetisyan’s response on Jun. 30, 2011. As noted in the preface to the retraction, Barseghyan, who is not only the president of the club, but also the site’s chief editor, waited for an electronic version of Avetisyan’s response on paper, but, not receiving it, he gathered the text himself and published the letter in full. 

 

So it is that Asparez Journalists’ Club, led by both the fundamental principles of journalistic ethics and the requirements of the RA Law on Mass Media, met Avetisyan’s demand by publishing his response; however, the latter, not being satisfied with this action, took the case to court.

 

In our opinion, the court shouldn’t have accepted the claim at all, but since it already has, it should reject it in the first preliminary court hearing. And here’s why.

 

Yes, RA Civil Code Article 19 (“Protection of honor, dignity and business reputation”) and 1087.1 (“The terms and conditions of compensation for harm caused to honor, dignity and business reputation”) allow a person to defend himself in court if he finds that statements disseminated by the media are defamatory and libellous (I have repeatedly said that this “insult” is strictly subjective; you can, for example, greet a person and he can become insulted. And what, he’s supposed to take the matter to court?). Parts 7 and 8 of the aforementioned Section 1087.1 define the amounts a person can ask for in court in libel and defamation cases. But what’s notable here is that in the same article, part 10 says (I cite it in its entirety): 

 

“The person cannot take advantage of the remedies set forth in part 7 and 8 of this article if until going to court, under terms of the Republic of Armenia Law on Mass Media, he asked for a retraction and/or publication of his response and the media organization met this demand.” 

 

In this case, this demand was met: Arman Avetisyan contacted the media organization, Asparez Journalists’ Club, which, in accordance with the requirements of the RA Law on Mass Media, published his response in full.

 

Thus, on this basis, I believe that the court should reject the lawsuit at the first preliminary hearing, on Sept. 9.

 

Mesrop Harutyunyan

The views expressed in the column are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Media.am.