Armenian court rejects former president’s lawsuit against speaker

An Armenian court has rejected a lawsuit filed by Robert Kocharyan against Alen Simonyan, in which the country’s second president demanded that the former parliamentary speaker retract statements he considered defamatory.

In May 2025, Simonyan called the opposition politician a “murderer and embezzler” during a briefing, Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenian media.

According to the law firm representing Simonyan, the court ruled that his remarks did not contain “independent factual claims about a murder or any criminal intent.”

Earlier, Armenia's Prosecutor General's Office filed claims seeking the confiscation of property, financial assets and other holdings belonging to Kocharyan.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov