Court Confirms Mane Gevorgyan Spread Defamatory Information Against Arthur Vanetsyan on Facebook

Another attempt by representatives of the government to defame political opponents with various "rumors" has failed. The general jurisdiction court of Armenia recognized the statement made in April 2020 by Mane Gevorgyan, the former spokesperson for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, as defamatory. Today, Gevorgyan's appeal has also been dismissed, meaning the court has once again confirmed the fact of defamation and has obliged her to make a public denial.

This was reported by Arthur Vanetsyan's representatives, Lusine Sahakyan and Aramazd Kiviryans. "Specifically, regarding the lawsuit filed by Arthur Vanetsyan, the president of the ‘Homeland’ party and the leader of the ‘I Have Honor’ parliamentary faction, the Court of Appeals of Armenia, presided over by Judge Margarita Hartenyan, rejected the appeal of Nikol Pashinyan’s former spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan and upheld the ruling issued by Judge Lilit Sargsyan of the general jurisdiction court, which confirmed that Mane Gevorgyan had disseminated defamatory information about Arthur Vanetsyan on her Facebook page. The court has obliged Mane Gevorgyan to refute that information publicly," they stated.

Particularly, following the entry into force of the court's decision, the former spokesperson of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is required to publicly refute the statement made on her 'Mane Gevorgyan' page on April 29, 2020, starting with the introduction, "To complete the topic, I note that..." She is instructed to publish the denial text specified by the court, which includes the following content: "On April 29, 2020, the press secretary of the Prime Minister of Armenia, Mane Gagik Gevorgyan, published a statement on her social media page starting with the introduction, 'To complete the topic, I note that...' which included inaccurate, defamatory information about Arthur Vanetsyan. I, the press secretary of the Prime Minister of Armenia, Mane Gagik Gevorgyan, deny the information presented about Arthur Vanetsyan and assert that the information published on that day, alleging that M. Minasyan’s shares, for example, were acquired by former NSS director Arthur Vanetsyan, in obvious abuse of official powers and again with the help of fictitious shareholders, is not true. The company owned by his father has also become a major carrier of cargo for ZPMC," the lawyers reported.