Verelq: Yuri Khachaturov sued political scientist Stepan Grigoryan

CSTO General Secretary Yuri Khachaturov, through his lawyer Grigor Bekmezyan, filed a civil lawsuit against Stepan Grigoryan, the president of the Analytical Center for Globalization and Regional Cooperation, in order to protect his honor, dignity and business reputation. “Ararat Press” informs about this.

“The claim states that Stepan Grigoryan spread obvious false information and thus insulted and tried to defame the honor and dignity of Yuri Khachaturov.

The video of Stepan Grigoryan’s interview (July 30, 2018, A1 TV station) and the references were presented to the court, in which the analyst, according to the lawyer, expresses unfounded facts, spreads obvious false information about Khachaturov, actually accusing him of treason.

It should be noted that Stepan Grigoryan in his interview spoke about the April 2016 four-day war, saying that some generals were not in their place, did not come to work in a short time, and also made accusations that some territories were sold by RA generals, including Yuri Khachaturov, in the days after the April four-day war.

In fact, Stepan Grigoryan accused the supreme general of the army of treason.

We contacted Grigor Bekmezyan to find out some details. He informed us that the lawsuit has already been sent to the court, there are all the facts to claim that the good reputation of CSTO General Secretary Yuri Khachaturov was tarnished as a result of spreading false information by Stepan Grigoryan.

To our question that Khachaturov has never addressed any criticism, any publication related to his person, so why did he decide to go to court this time, Bekmezyan answered.

“Stepan Grigoryan has not only tarnished Mr. Khachaturov’s honor and dignity with his false and fictitious statements, but also cast a shadow over the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia with such statements. Mr. Khachaturov’s only goal is to prevent the spread of disinformation about the leadership of the army and the armed forces in the future. Every person should realize that every word he says about the army should be based on facts. You are right, Mr. Khachaturov has always taken the spreading of untrue and false news about his person seriously.

He is not a politician, he is exclusively engaged in military affairs and has no time. However, taking into account that the spread of such news is already becoming dangerous for the moral and psychological state of the society, harms the reputation of the RA army and the state and insults the national dignity, he made such a decision.

After all, the goal of all of us, including Yuri Khachaturov, is the creation of a legal state, so it is normal that everyone should try to legally prevent the spread of disinformation, especially about the army. This is Mr. Khachaturov’s approach.”

We also learned from Bekmezyan that the civil suit required Stepan Grigoryan to give an interview to the A1 TV company within a month after the verdict came into force, in which he would deny the actual false information he had previously voiced about Yuri Khachaturov, and post the video of that interview on his Facebook page.

The lawsuit also demanded that Stepan Grigoryan be obliged to pay AMD 2 million as compensation for the moral and non-material damage caused to his good reputation by spreading false information defaming his honor and dignity.

To our question, why is Khachaturov demanding money from Grigoryan, can this be considered as an attempt to pressure the analyst in this way, if the court approves the claim, Bekmezyan answered:

“Each action implies a certain responsibility. Without responsibility, it is impossible to prevent such phenomena in the future. It is even absurd to talk about pressure, because Stepan Grigoryan broke the law by spreading false news about Yuri Khachaturov, who held the position of the head of the RA General Staff in 2016, as well as the General of the RA Army. This insults Mr. Khachaturov, insults the entire leadership of the army and our national dignity.”

As for the required amount, Bekmezyan noted that this amount will be fully transferred to the Military Servicemen’s Insurance Fund after the court ruling comes into force,” the report said.