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On November 10, 2011, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor filed a complaint with the RA Court of Common Jurisdiction in the Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun Administrative Districts, demanding that Vladimir Gasparyan compensate for damages caused to the honor, dignity, and business reputation of the organization.

The complaint was based on Vladimir Gasparyan’s interviews given to the www.hraparak.am electronic page on October 17, 2011 and to the “Zinuzh” TV program on October 15, 2011.

HCA Vanadzor finds that the following statements made in the article, “Whoever gorges blood, should see it happening totheir own son”on www.hraparak.am electronic page as offensive and slandering. “A concerned parent cannot be impudent, a concerned parent stands up against any impudence towards the army, towards the minister; I see poison in them. The 20 year old cubs with pony tails, brought by the Helsinki Organizations, and theirnegative statements are personally offensive to me. When a slobbering cub makes impudent exclamations and insults a person, who has protected the country and was injured as a result of it, I will not tolerate it. They dishonor our Minister of Defense, calling him ‘the one-legged’. I say ‘the one-legged’ does more work than you,‘the four-legged’. Whatever this person has done (I am not protecting) he has done it for this country, and that is how he lost his leg.”

It is also stated in the complaint that in one of his speeches, V. Gasparyan, without mentioning any names, although it is clear from his speech who he is talking about, insults all those active and courageous representatives of civil society, who have spoken out against illegalities and the urgent topic of deaths in the army, their ineffective investigations and impunity of those who are guilty.

In an interview with the“Zinuzh” Program,Vladimir Gasparyan declared “How can one’s heart ache for the army of this country if one is financed from other countries?How can one’s heart ache when one thinks the more sensational and the more terrible the case is, the better, because one can earn more money off of it? Those who are engaged in such activities are without a fatherlandandwith disgrace.They try to please others, serve others, they are serfs and do not have any dignity. There are some people among them, who haven’t even walked by the army… And you should know for sure that tomorrow, if something happens, we will not be able to find them in the backyard or even in the entire territory of the Republic of Armenia. A few days ago, I read a statement by one of those groups in a newspaper, where they were demanding information about thousands of soldiers. My dear friends, what other assignments have your sponsorsgiven you? Maybe you would like to publish the entire list and then go stand in line to sell it to diverse international foundations?”

The organization believes that this interview contains a series of offensive phrases, which discredit the good reputation of the organization.

Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor demands the court to obligate the respondent, Vladimir Gasparyan, to publicly apologize for offending the organization and the organizers of the protest at the RA Government Building, the motherswho lost their sons to the RA Armed Forces, and to exact 10 (ten) AMD from his property in favor of HCAV.

HCAV also demands the court to obligate the respondent, Vladimir Gasparyan, to publicly renounce the defaming information about the organization and the organizers of the protest at the RA Government Building, the mothers, who lost their sons to the RA Armed Forces, and to exact 10 (ten) AMD from his property in favor of HCAV.