Yerevan court orders Pashinyan to apologize to Khachatryan family

PanARMENIAN.Net - A court in Yerevan has ordered Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to apologize to businessmen Gagik, Gurgen and Artyom Khachatryan for slander and insults contained in a Facebook post published by his spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan.

Gagik Khachatryan is the former head of the State Revenue Committee and a former Minister of Finance. He was arrested in August 2019 following a corruption investigation by the National Security Service. Charges brought against Khachatryan and his family include large-scale embezzlement of public funds, abuse of power, colluding in a corruption scheme. His son Gurgen is on the run and has refused to turn himself in to face charges.

The court has now ordered Pashinyan to refute a public post on Gevorgyan's social media page from April 28, 2020, which said Khachatryan and his sons "ran a corrupt and mafia system" and "accumulated illicit wealth", which the court described as expressions "denigrating the Khachatryans' honor and dignity".

The plaintiffs had not filed a claim for pecuniary damage, but their claim for damages has been partially satisfied, which means Pashinyan has been ordered to pay a little more than half a million drams to cover all legal fees.