KP MP Arthur Hovhannisyan to Apologize to '5th Channel'

On October 6, 2020, Armenian National Assembly MP Arthur Hovhannisyan posted a statement on his Facebook page that tarnished the business reputation of the '5th Channel' television company. On October 23, 2020, '5th Channel' filed a lawsuit against Hovhannisyan, demanding a public apology for allegedly defamatory remarks and compensation for non-material damages.

The court, presided over by Judge Daniel Mkheyan, examined the case and, on May 24, 2021, rejected the claim. On July 7, 2021, representatives of '5th Channel' appealed the decision. The Court of Appeals subsequently overturned the ruling of the first instance court on October 18, 2021, and sent the case back for a full new examination.

The case was re-evaluated in the first instance court under Judge Sargis Yeritsyan, which resulted in a partial acceptance of the claim on August 4, 2022. This ruling was appealed by Hovhannisyan’s representative to the Court of Appeals, which partially granted the appeal on December 21, 2022. The respondent's representative challenged this decision in the Court of Cassation, but on May 3, 2023, the court rejected the appeal for further proceedings, thereby solidifying the ruling of the Court of Appeals.

As a result, the court determined that the screenshot of Hovhannisyan's post from October 6, 2020, titled '5th Channel/5 TV what are you doing? Ilyushin and hakkin are expressing themselves more mildly' was considered to be a statement that damaged the business reputation of the claimant.

Hovhannisyan was ordered to publicly apologize on his Facebook page in the following manner: 'With this post, I would like to publicly apologize to 'Shark' LLC, which presents itself to the public under the name 5th Channel, for publishing the defamatory post “5th Channel/5 TV what are you doing? Ilyushin and hakkin are expressing themselves more mildly.”' According to the final court ruling, Hovhannisyan is also required to compensate '5th Channel' with 300,000 Armenian Drams.