Court Denies Robert Kocharian's Lawsuit Against Nikol Pashinyan

The Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan has rejected the lawsuit of the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan regarding claims for the retraction of defamatory information and compensation. This was reported by AM Law Firm.

The lawsuit pertained to a statement made by Nikol Pashinyan during a government meeting on June 5, 2025, where he referred to Robert Kocharian, stating: “We are making corrections and are mistaken; for instance, we have not officially recorded that Robert Kocharian is a briber, and that is established by a court ruling, because the man went and said in his bribery case: apply the statute of limitations; this happens at a time when he is admitting that he is a briber.”

According to AM Law Firm, the court fully rejected the claim with a ruling on July 23, 2026. The court agreed with the legal interpretation that the term “briber” used by the Prime Minister is an evaluative judgment based on factual grounds stemming from the circumstances of the case.

The court particularly noted that this expression is based on a judicial act accepted in a criminal case and the behavior of the claimant and corresponds to the approaches developed by the Court of Cassation of the Republic of Armenia and the European Court of Human Rights.

As a result, the court concluded that there is insufficient evidence to confirm the existence of grounds stipulated in Article 1087.1 of the Civil Code, and thus, the lawsuit filed by Robert Kocharian is subject to rejection.