Arthur Vanetsyan to Sue Gagik Melkonyan

The leader of the 'Honor' alliance and president of the 'Homeland' party, former head of the National Security Service Arthur Vanetsyan has filed a lawsuit against former deputy defense minister, General-Lieutenant Gagik Melkonyan.

During an interview on public television yesterday, Melkonyan, who worked in the dairy complex of Hatzashen village in the Echmiadzin region from 1983 to 1988, and later served intermittently as assistant to the Minister of Defense from 1996 to 2008, made several remarks about Arthur Vanetsyan. In particular, he stated, ‘Vanetsyan went and ran away. Leaving and coming back was the same thing. They went, reached there, collected weapons; they knew there were plenty of abandoned weapons over there, they collected them and brought them to Armenia. Their goal was to go and bring back weapons.’

Becoming a member of parliament on the Civil Contract party list does not absolve the general of thinking before speaking and being accountable for the statements he has made.

A civil lawsuit is already being prepared to refute the clearly defamatory statements made by Melkonyan and to claim compensation for the moral damages caused. We will meet in court,” stated Vanetsyan’s lawyer, Lusine Sahakyan, in a statement.