Expert opinion Kocharyan’s slander suit
The Information Disputes Council (hereinafter the Council) has issued an expert opinion on Robert Kocharyan's slander suit against "Hraparak" daily.
"The Information Disputes Council finds that the article published in the newspaper represents public interest and does not contain factual data, the decision being based on the RA Constitution, Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. Consequently, we expect the Court to be guided by the highest standards in assessing the freedom of expression of media." the Council said.
At the same time, the Council thinks that some assessments given in the article do not meet the standards of conscientious journalism. Therefore, the court decision should be determined by the defendant's arguments.
In addition, "the amount sought by the plaintiff does not comply with the requirements of proportionality and exceeds the income of the media."
Information Disputes Council was founded on May 1, 2011, by the initiative of Armenian Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan.
The main objective of the Information Disputes Council is to protect the freedom of speech, information availability, as well as to protect human dignity and the right of personal life. The function of the Information Disputes Council is to come up with advisory professional conclusions regarding court cases on slanders, insults, private life protection, and freedom of information. Its function also includes providing necessary consultations on relevant matters to legislative and executive bodies, local self-government bodies and citizens.
The founding members of the Information Disputes Council are President of Freedom of Information Center of Armenia Shushan Doydoyan, President of the Press Club of Yerevan Boris Navasardyan, Editor in Chief of "Aravot" daily Aram Abrahamyan, Deputy Director of the "Arni Consult" law office Ara Ghazaryan, and Director of "ArmMedia" program, famous journalist Manana Aslamazyan.
