MAYOR OF IJEVAN VS. INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS: PLAINTIFF TO APPEAL LOWER COURT DECISION
Kristine Aghalaryan

200 9/08/24 | 16:31

Feature Stories court media

Ijevan Mayor Varuzhan Nersisyan is unhappy with a lower court’s
decision that found in favor of the "Investigative Journalists
NGO", the defendant in a slander case initiated by the Ijevan
Municipality. Mayor Nersisyan plans to appeal to a higher court.

Why is the Ijevan Mayor Nersisyan so upset?

In its May 5, 2008 edition, "Hetq" published an article written by
Tavush correspondent Voskan Sargsyan entitled "Who is Pocketing the
Profits of the Sand Mine?" In the article, Mr. Sargsyan described
the illegal sand mining operation taking place at the "White Water"
reservoir on the Aghstev River along the southern entrance to
Ijevan. The article was also published in an "Azg" newspaper insert
on May 20, 2008.

The reporter checked his facts on site and photographed the mining
operation and trucks transporting the sand. Mr. Sargsyan spoke with
workers at the sand mine and attempted to get answers in writing from
operation management.

According to a 1997 government decision, "White Water" was designated
Ijevan public property. However, the Ijevan Municipality, tasked with
overseeing the property, failed to respond to a written inquiry sent
back on October 27, 2007. The RoA Ministry of Nature Protection had
stated that "the right to utilize the reservoir’s sand hadn’t been
granted to any physical or legal entity given that a resource study
of the area hadn’t been carried out and a licensing agreement hadn’t
been issued." The General Prosecutor’s Office, instead of verifying
the evidence presented in the article, questioned the municipality
and reported that only river silt had been transported out of the
reservoir; effectively refuting evidence to the contrary. In the
meanwhile, the reporter traveled to Dilijan, uncovering the fat that
"White Water" sand was being trucked in for use during construction
work on the amphitheater in June.

Based on the ample evidence before him, the "Hetq" reporter concluded
that the illegal sand mining was being carried out with the full
knowledge and permission of Ijevan Mayor Varuzhan Nersisyan. This
conclusion didn’t meet with the approval of the mayor.

In the suit brought by the Ijevan Municipality to the Court of First
Instance, Gevorg Davtyan, attorney for the plaintiff, claimed that,
"…The information published by the defendant in the newspaper and
website is baseless and contains slander that not only blemishes the
honor of the mayor but his dignity and good name as well and harms
the legal activities of the municipality."

On June 19, attorney Davtyan initiated a suit at the Yerevan Civil
Court demanding that the court compel the "Investigative Journalists
NGO" to publish a retraction of the baseless information and slander
defaming the honor and dignity of Mayor Nersisyan and to fine the
"Investigative Journalists" in the amount of 930,000 to compensate
the municipality for legal fees incurred.

On May 23, the Ijevan Municipal Council voted to allocate 930,000
AMD from the budget for legal fees aimed at "bringing the author of
the slanderous article to account before the law".

At the session, Councilman Vahe Ghalumyan asked whether it was correct
to allocate such an amount from the municipal budget. Mayor Varuzhan
Nersisyan responded that an attorney with special credentials was
needed to initiate such a case and promised that the 930,000 AMD
would be returned to the budget.

The "Investigative Journalists" wrote to the Ijevan mayor, requesting
that it make the minutes of the council session available along with
the decision permitting 930,000 AMD to be spent from the municipal
budget for legal fees for a suit against it seeking redress of the
slanderous charges.

Mayor Varuzhan Nersisyan refused to hand over the documents, arguing
that he wished to "avoid any possible manipulation of the documents",
saying that they would be made available after court proceedings
had ended.

"Investigative Journalists" counter-sue

The "Investigative Journalists" then counter-sued, demanding that
the mayor make the documents in question available. On November
26, the RoA Administrative Court partially found in favor of the
"Investigative Journalists" counter-suit against the Ijevan mayor. The
court demanded that the Ijevan mayor hand over copies of the decisions
passed by the council to the "Investigative Journalists" within a five
day period; that is by December 1, 2008. The countersuit brought by
the "Investigative Journalists" NGO had also sought 114,000 drams
in damages and legal expenses from the Ijevan Mayor. In addition,
the Court decided to have 8,000 drams appropriated from the Ijevan
Municipality’s budget to go to the Investigative Journalists NGO
as compensation.

The additional 106,000 drams sought by the "IJ" was rejected by
the Court.

The Ijevan Municipality never acted on the court’s decision, prompting
the "Investigative Journalists" to petition the Compulsory Enforcement
Service of Judicial Decrees. This proved fruitless as well.

Court throws out Ijevan slander suit as baseless

Simultaneously, the suit brought by the Ijevan Municipality against the
"Investigative Journalists" continued at the Kentron and Nork-Marash
District Court, Judge Ruben Apinyan presiding. During the hearing,
the plaintiff was not able to specify what information contained in
the original article was unfounded, slanderous and had defamed the
good name of the mayor. The plaintiff merely cited two articles that
had appeared as complete defamation of the mayor; "Who is Pocketing
the Profits from the Sand Mine?" and "Mayor of Ijevan Seeks to Sue
Reporter Over "Slander" in Illegal Sand Mine article".

In an attempt to refute the evidence contained in these articles,
the plaintiff’s suit claimed that the Ijevan Municipality had always
been interested in exposing illegal mining operations and that it
had petitioned T. Baghdasaryan and S. Galstyan, heads of the Ijevan
Internal Affairs Division, on numerous occasions with this objective
in mind.

The "Investigative Journalists" made the counter-claim that illegal
mining of sand from the lake bed had taken place and that the
accompanying photos were proof of same.

Voskan Sargsyan, the article’s author, was called as a primary witness
and a representative from the newspaper "Azg" was called in as a
third-party. As a result of the motion of attorney Karen Mezhlumyan,
who represented the "Investigative Journalists", Ijevan Mayor Nersisyan
was also subpoenaed and questioned by the court.

In court, reporter Sargsyan proved that all the evidence and facts
listed in his article were based on responses to written inquiries he
had addressed to "responsible" parties and on his own investigative
work. He added that based on the evidence he had amassed he went ahead
and expressed a set of observations and opinions in the article and
that he had the right to do so as a journalist.

On July 10, 2009, Judge Ruben Apinyan threw out the slander suit
brought by the Ijevan Municipality threw out the suit it filed charging
the "Investigative Journalists NGO" with slander and publishing false
information, arguing that the article in question contained nothing
that defamed the working reputation of the Ijevan Municipality and
thus there was no justification to demand a retraction.

The court also recognized the fact that the photos offered in evidence
verified the allegations made by the "Investigative Journalists",
in particular, that sand was being removed from the "White Water"
reservoir located on the Aghstev River.

Furthermore, the court found that reports contained in the article
that the sand mining operation was conducted under the supervision of
Ijevan Mayor Varuzhan Nersisyan were never presented as "fact", but
rather that "certain information exists that the reporter attempted
to verify and made written inquiries to government bodies".

On August 7, the Ijevan Municipality and Ijevan Mayor Nersisyan filed
a protest appeal to the Civil Court of Appeals, demanding that the
decision of the Kentron and Nork-Marash District Court be overturned
and that their original slander suit demands be sustained.

The plaintiff, in its appeals petition, notes that the following
sentence in the reporter’s article is particularly offensive and a
direct insult to the mayor – The scores of Ijevan cabbies who ply
their trade along the pot-holed roads of the regional district center
always have a few "choice words" to remember the Mayor by.