Court Orders Journalist to Compensate 150,000 Dram in Favor of Allen Simonian

Dear colleagues, we inform you about the latest victory in court regarding the dissemination of false information and defamation against Allen Simonian in the media. The Yerevan City General Jurisdiction Court has granted the claim of Allen Simonian against Ani Seyran Gevorgyan, represented by the third party, "News AM" LLC, following a judicial process through three instances concerning honor and dignity.

The court's decision is final and not subject to appeal. The court has ordered Ani Seyran Gevorgyan to publicly refute the defamatory factual information in the following manner: to publish a statement on the website www.news.am, or if impossible, on the defendant's personal Facebook page in a manner accessible and visible to everyone, for at least five working days or in printed media with a circulation of at least five thousand copies, under the title "Refutation," containing the following text: "On April 16, 2021, in the video posted on the YouTube channel titled 'hayeli am', as well as on news.am and hayeli.am, the statement made by Ani Seyran Gevorgyan regarding Allen Simonian, that he ordered a crime against me and targeted my underage child, does not correspond to reality."

The court has also ordered the seizure of 150,000 AMD from Ani Seyran Gevorgyan in favor of Allen Robert Simonian as compensation for defamation damages, 100,000 AMD as reasonable attorney fees, and 7,000 AMD for the pre-paid state duty on the accepted part of the claim.

Dear colleagues, what is most important for Allen Simonian is the refutation of the information containing defamation. It should be noted that out of the 11 cases presented to court, three have already been satisfied, and the defamatory information has been refuted; currently, eight lawsuits filed by him are under consideration in court,” the spokesperson for the Speaker of the National Assembly, Tsolinar Khachatryan, stated in a press release.