Lawyer Claims Nazaryan Is Paying About 600,000 AMD in Loans Monthly, Cannot Afford 1 Million AMD Fine

The newspaper "Zhoghovurd" reports that the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan has upheld the lawsuit filed by MP Taguhi Tovmasyan against MP Lena Nazaryan. The ruling dictates that the government MP must apologize to Tovmasyan.

Recall that on July 3 of last year, independent MP at the time Taguhi Tovmasyan spoke from the podium about bodies thrown on the ground of the Abovyan morgue, criticizing the authorities, and in response, received insults from the then-Vice President of the National Assembly.

Following these remarks, both Tovmasyan and several other MPs demanded an apology from Lena Nazaryan from the National Assembly podium; however, she refused to do so. Consequently, the matter reached the court, where Nazaryan's lawyer, Alexander Sirunyan, attempted to prove that Nazaryan did not insult Tovmasyan.

The lawyer even brought a letter from the Yerevan State Linguistic University named after Valeri Brusov to explain the meaning of the word "idiotka," attempting to argue that it means leader in Greek. However, the Brusov University provided a letter stating that the word clearly contains an element of insult.

Thus, when the counterarguments were more than laughable and not credible, Nazaryan's lawyer was forced to evoke sympathy in the court, stating that Nazaryan's financial situation is not great; she is paying about 600,000 AMD in loans monthly, so she cannot afford to pay around 1 million AMD in fines, and he requested the court to consider the financial status of the MP when making its ruling.

Consequently, the court took into account Lena Nazaryan's poor financial situation and partially upheld Tovmasyan's claim, ordering Nazaryan to issue a public apology to Tovmasyan, but decided to accommodate Nazaryan regarding the financial compensation and did not impose a monetary penalty.

Of course, Tovmasyan's lawyer Sergey Voskanyan stated in an interview with "Zhoghovurd" that the verdict would be appealed, as the court should have required Lena Nazaryan not only to apologize from the podium of the National Assembly but also to enforce a monetary confiscation. However, despite the upcoming appeal of the court verdict, it is a fact that sooner or later, Lena Nazaryan will be compelled to apologize to Taguhi Tovmasyan as mandated by the court.