Armenia: "Aikakan Zhamanak" complains to ECtHR about violation of freedom of expression

In the near future, the Limited Liability Company (LLC) "Dareskizb", the publisher of the newspaper "Aikakan Zhamanak", will finalize the preparation of a claim to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on abuse of the freedom of expression and the right to fair trial, the a fair judicial investigation, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the newspaper's office.

Earlier, Vage Grigoryan, the advocate of the LLC "Dareskizb", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the publisher of the "Aikakan Zhamanak" intended to raise two issues at the ECtHR: violation of the freedom of expression and the right to fair trial.

Natalia Martirosyan, a human rights activist and the Chair of the Armenian Committee of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, believes that the ECtHR "is a rather cumbersome structure; it's unreasonable to expect any quick response from them." According to her story, Armenia has a precedent, when the government had in fact failed to execute the ECtHR's decision in respect of the "A1+" TV Company.

"It's hard to say what could be expected from the upcoming litigation there. On the other hand, it is important to use all available legal mechanisms. Besides, we also train to make use of our international legal rights," said Ms Martirosyan.

Last autumn, major entrepreneurs, Deputies of the National Assembly of Armenia Samvel Alexanyan, Levon Sarkisyan and Ruben Airapetyan filed a lawsuit against the "Aikakan Zhamanak", demanding to refute the information published on October 14, 2010 in the article "Seven out of Eight on the List" and to pay each of them 2 million drams as moral compensation, and 500,000 drams to each to compensate their legal expenses.

On February 7, 2011, the court of general jurisdiction of Yerevan communities Centre-Nork-Marash passed a decision that ordered the newspaper to publish a refutation within one week after the entry into force of the court's decision.