Court Rejects Samvel Shahramanyan's Lawsuit Against Nzhdeh Hovsepyan

The Yerevan General Jurisdiction Civil Court has rejected Samvel Shahramanyan's lawsuit against Nzhdeh Hovsepyan and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Republic of Armenia, which sought to refute factual information deemed defamatory.

Shahramanyan filed the lawsuit claiming that a statement included in the 9th-grade history textbook, which states "the President of the NKR signed a decree on the dissolution of the NKR," is false and constitutes defamation and insult.

Co-author of the textbook and historian Nzhdeh Hovsepyan has repeatedly pointed out that the sentence is a quotation from a statement made by Artsakh’s information headquarters. The court's ruling notes that the respondent opposed the lawsuit, highlighting that there is no defamatory information in the textbook, and that the information presented is based on a statement issued by the Artsakh information headquarters.

The court found that the evidence in the case did not warrant the claim that the dissemination of this information had harmed the claimant's honor, dignity, or business reputation. The ruling also states that the submitted written evidence did not confirm the existence of an intent by the respondents to defame the claimant's honor, dignity, and good reputation. The court concluded that the evidence presented was insufficient to demonstrate any fact regarding the respondents' intent to undermine the claimant's authority.