Affiliated media: Oragir.news, News website

Incident date: April 13, 2023

Attack type:

• Court trial

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Court Information System

Location: Armenia, Yerevan

Additional information:

On April 13, the Vice-Mayor of Yerevan Tigran Avinyan filed a lawsuit against Oragir Media LLC (founder of the news website Oragir.news) with the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction demanding refutation of the information defaming honor, dignity and business reputation and payment of monetary compensation. The reason for the lawsuit was the article «Appetite Comes with Eating: Avinyan Turned Eye on Vivasel-MTS», published on the mentioned website on March 9. Referring to its sources, the editorial office noted that after acquiring Grand Hotel Yerevan, Avinyan decided to also buy the shares of one of the leading telecommunication operators — Vivasel-MTS. Moreover, according to the publication, Avinyan is obstructing the possible deal with another buyer with his administrative leverage and demands to sell the company to him. The lawsuit is in the process of consideration.