Today the Yerevan court of general jurisdiction, under the chairmanship of Judge Anna Pilosyan, is holding a court hearing on the lawsuit filed by leader of the opposition Homeland Party, former director of the National Security Service of Armenia Artur Vanetsyan against Armenian Times (“Haykakan Zhamanak”) Daily (“Dareskizb” LLC).

The reason for this lawsuit is the article that was released in Armenian Times Daily and in which it was particularly stated that “the propaganda against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s family members, particularly his wife Anna Hakobyan and daughter Mariam Pashinyan is carried out by a few specific media outlets and is coordinated and inspired by former director of the National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan; moreover, there are grounds to think that the anti-propaganda is also funded by Vanetsyan.”

Before applying to court, Vanetsyan’s attorneys had demanded that the newspaper refute the news and publish the text of refutation, but Armenian Times Daily hadn’t done so.