The initial court hearing in Hrayr Tovmasyan v. Nikol Pashinyan case has been set for May 13, Panorama.am learned from DataLex, an online database providing information regarding court cases in Armenia.

According to the source, the sides were notified of the date of the court hearing on March 31.

The Constitutional Court chairman filed a civil lawsuit against the prime minister in February, demanding an apology for his “slanderous remarks” made in the town of Kapan.

The case was assigned to judge Gayane Khachatryan of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction on 21 February.

Speaking at a big press conference in Kapan on 25 January, 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 in the day, the PM promised to publicize the requested credible proof upon reaching Yerevan. As proof of what he was saying, he posted a photo of a pen on Facebook, claiming that it was a gift from the top court head to him.