Civilnet
By Gevorg Tosunyan
A Yerevan court rejected Mayor Tigran Avinyan’s motion on Tuesday to waive legal court fees in the case Avinyan’s lawsuit against CivilNet. It returned the legal request to Avinyan, who has the option to correct the deficiencies and resubmit the lawsuit within three days. Otherwise, Avinyan can appeal the decision within seven days.
The state duty is a mandatory fee for filing a lawsuit in court. The law provides a possibility of an exemption or a discount in case of financial hardship. However, the court must find the applicant's arguments convincing.
Avinyan’s lawsuit against CivilNet was filed last week and was prompted by CivilNet's article "Armenia’s Former Deputy PM Oversaw Project That Benefited His Family Company."
Avinyan took issue with the following wording: "While his political star was rising, Avinyan’s family business was also benefiting from state funds doled out in programs that he oversaw.” Avinyan also seeks $8,000 in compensation from CivilNet.
In the lawsuit, Avinyan called the 150,000 ($400) Dram state duty "quite a large sum." "The state duty payable amounts to 150,000 drams, which is quite a large sum, and paying it at the time of filing the lawsuit would cause significant financial inconvenience to me and my family, and due to illegal actions of other persons, I would effectively be deprived of my right to dispose of my financial means at my discretion," the lawsuit states.
The court found this reasoning insufficient to justify the motion; the plaintiff must present minimum evidence that would prove financial hardship.
Amid this debacle and following media revelations, Avinyan recently announced that he is ready to reimburse the cost of his airline ticket to the U.S. - roughly $18,000 - purchased in November for an official visit.
Read more: Editor’s note of gratitude to Tigran Avinyan, who is suing CivilNet
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