Hrayr Tovmasyan asks lawyers to initiate defamation lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan

Panorama, Armenia
Jan 27 2020

Armenian Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasyan has asked his defense team to initiate a defamation claim against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over a statement made by the PM during the recent news conference, his lawyer Amram Makinyan said on Facebook.

"Chairman of the Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan has read Nikol Pashinyan's 'disproportionate blow' and asked us to prepare the lawsuit,” the lawyer wrote.

Speaking at the big press conference in the town of Kapan on Saturday, Pashinyan stated that Tovmasyan had “repeatedly offered him his services”, which was strongly denied by Tovmasyan in a subsequent statement.

"From now on, I will wait patiently for 20 days for Pashinyan to publish any objective fact or credible evidence substantiating his allegations. In case of a failure to do so, I will ask my lawyers to file a lawsuit against Nikol Pashinyan for slander,” Tovmasyan said.

In a Facebook post later on Saturday, the PM promised to publicize the requested credible proof upon reaching Yerevan. Later he posted a photo of a pen on Facebook, claiming that it was a gift from the top court head to him which proved that Tovmasyan offered him his services.