Oversight body says Avinyan’s derogatory comment targeted CivilNet

By Gevorg Tosunyan

An independent Armenian media oversight body concluded on Monday that Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan’s widely criticized “media has become one big garbage dump” comment was directed at CivilNet. The finding, issued by the Information Disputes Council (IDC) on June 23, comes amid ongoing defamation proceedings between Avinyan and CivilNet’s parent organization, the Civilitas Foundation.

The IDC, a non-governmental body that provides expert opinions on matters of media freedom and the right to privacy and dignity, found that “there were specific circumstances indicating that Tigran Avinyan’s controversial statement was aimed at CivilNet.am.”

The Council’s opinion was issued in response to a request by CivilNet’s editor-in-chief Karen Harutyunyan, who asked whether Avinyan’s statement, made during a December 2024 televised debate on Factor TV, had targeted the outlet. During that broadcast, Avinyan had sparred with former Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan and, in reaction to allegations and references to a CivilNet-OCCRP investigative report, stated that “media here has become one big garbage dump.”

While Avinyan’s legal team maintained that the statement was a general critique of misinformation and not directed at any one outlet, the IDC disagreed, stating that the context and subsequent remarks made clear CivilNet was the intended target.

According to the Council’s published opinion, the immediate trigger for Avinyan’s comment was Marutyan citing CivilNet’s investigation, which detailed financial ties between state programs and a company owned by Avinyan’s father. The Council noted that Avinyan not only referenced CivilNet multiple times during the broadcast but also stated that his father had filed a lawsuit against the outlet, leading directly into the “garbage dump” remark.

“Though the phrase was abstract in form, the two immediately preceding statements referred exclusively to CivilNet,” the IDC wrote. “Therefore, any objective observer could reasonably interpret that Tigran Avinyan meant CivilNet. Even the moderator understood it this way, urging the mayor not to attack CivilNet’s partners, to which Avinyan responded by doubling down on his criticism of CivilNet.”

The Council concluded that public officials cannot rely on vague language to avoid accountability for defamatory or dignity-harming speech, especially when the target of such remarks is identifiable through context, a principle upheld by the European Court of Human Rights.

Twin lawsuits over corruption probe and on-air insult

The Information Disputes Council (IDC), a non-governmental panel that issues expert opinions on free-speech disputes, said on 23 June that “specific circumstances indicate” Avinyan’s December 2024 remark on Factor TV “was aimed at CivilNet.am.”

The ruling came at the request of CivilNet editor-in-chief Karen Harutyunyan. During the televised debate Avinyan, trading accusations with former mayor Hayk Marutyan, responded to references to a CivilNet-OCCRP investigation by declaring Armenia’s media landscape a “garbage dump.”

The investigation in question – “Armenia’s Former Deputy PM Oversaw Project That Benefited His Family Company” – detailed how, while Avinyan was deputy prime minister overseeing an agricultural subsidy programme, nine recipients hired Irrigate LLC, a firm owned by his father, for roughly US$620,000 in work.

Avinyan’s lawyers insist the remark was a broad critique of disinformation. Yet, the IDC said the mayor twice mentioned CivilNet by name moments earlier, noted his father had already sued the outlet, and was immediately cautioned by the moderator “not to attack CivilNet’s partners.” Those facts, the Council wrote, would lead “any objective observer” to conclude the insult targeted a single outlet.

CivilNet’s parent Civilitas Foundation filed its suit on 20 January, seeking an on-air apology and publication of the eventual judgment on Factor TV, but no damages. Avinyan had earlier lodged a separate claim for three million drams (about US$7,500), demanding removal of the corruption story.

Hearings in both cases have proceeded in Yerevan Civil Court; the next session in Civilitas v Avinyan is set for 27 August.