Nazeli Vardanyan
Kaynaklar
Nazeli Vardanyan, a licensed advocate, member of the fact-finding Working Group (WG) on the Amulsar mine established under the Armenian Prime Minister’s order, and author of a legal report about the mine. On 21 December 2018, Lydian Armenia filed a complaint against Vardanyan (Court Case No. ED/30203/02/18) on the grounds of discrediting its business reputation. The lawsuit is based on questions Vardanyan asked during a WG session about suspected corruption related to the transfer of money from Lydian Armenia to the Jermuk Foundation that operates in the town near the mine. Lydian demanded that Vardanyan retract her question and pay Lydian 1 million AMD (US$2,000). On 12 December 2019, the court held a hearing, but Vardanyan was not notified because Lydian Armenia gave the wrong address for her in its court filings. The court of first instance ordered Vardanyan to retract in a newspaper and pay 100,000 AMD (US$200). The court of appeal ordered her to pay 50,000 AMD (US$100) without a retraction. Vardanyan appealed the decision to the Court of Cassation. We invited Lydian Armenia to respond; it did. A rejoinder from the defender is available here.