Tweet
RUBEN HAYRAPETYAN'S CHOICE OF PUNISHMENT: THE ARMENIAN MP ON LIBEL SUIT AND DRUG ADDICTS
epress.am
09.23.2011
President of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA), MP Ruben
Hayrapetyan could not not sue local daily Haykakan Jamanak ("Armenian
Times"), since the newspaper published a report accusing him of
having committed serious crimes. Hayrapetyan said this himself,
while meeting with journalists in Yerevan today.
"The news agency uses blackmail, discredits [me], accusing me of
committing very serious crimes - narcotics business, the purchase
and sale of arms, human trafficking... That is to say, for such an
article, they decide to take at least one shot per hour...," he said.
The Republican Party MP said he contacted the newspaper on several
occasions, asking for a retraction, but his request was not granted.
"Please tell me, if it was you, what would you do? How could I be
involved in narcotics, arms sales and human trafficking and no one
know about it?" he asked journalists rather rhetorically.
Hayrapetyan said he also contacted Haykakan Jamanak after the paper
published a piece in which it claimed the MP had assaulted a police
chief.
"I contacted them; I said, publish a retraction. They didn't. I
appealed to the courts. They come to court and say, 'Let's reconcile;
we'll publish a retraction.' I say, ok; I pull back from the court
case, [but] they don't publish a retraction," he said.
When journalists pointed out that the comments published in the
Haykakan Jamanak article were made by president of Moscow-based
Armenian club Miabanutyun ("Unity") Smbat Karakhanyan, Hayrapetyan
said he doesn't know who Karakhanyan is and that you shouldn't believe
everything you hear.
"And I heard that they did something very bad [referring to Haykakan
Jamanak chief editor Nikol Pashinyan] in Artik [penitentiary], which
is not becoming for a man. But I don't believe it - I honestly don't
believe it. Well, I'm not going to stand up and say that it's true,"
he said.
The deputy repeated that accusations of his being involved in the drug
trade offend him because "he has a bad attitude toward drug addicts."
"You can ask in Avan - when I find out there's a drug addict, what
I do," he declared.
Journalists then asked him to elaborate: what does he do when he
finds out about a drug addict?
"I call him, talk with him - I say you're doing something very bad,"
Hayrapetyan said laughingly. Journalists likewise began to laugh.
"You don't know what I have to do? I have to punish [him], hit [him].
Or you think that I would avoid [doing that]? If I say that I played
the violin, that's when you can be surprised," he continued.
Hayrapetyan said he can spend the 2 million 44 thousand drams he is
expected to receive from the daily in different ways: he can donate
the money to seniors' homes or orphanages, or provide assistance to
former player of Armenia's national team Karapety Mikayelyan, who is
need of a heart transplant.
"I will ask my colleagues [fellow plaintiffs in the case, MPs Samvel
Aleksanyan and Levon Sargsyan] to combine our funds, add something
more and give it away," the FFA President said.
epress.am
09.23.2011
President of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA), MP Ruben
Hayrapetyan could not not sue local daily Haykakan Jamanak ("Armenian
Times"), since the newspaper published a report accusing him of
having committed serious crimes. Hayrapetyan said this himself,
while meeting with journalists in Yerevan today.
"The news agency uses blackmail, discredits [me], accusing me of
committing very serious crimes - narcotics business, the purchase
and sale of arms, human trafficking... That is to say, for such an
article, they decide to take at least one shot per hour...," he said.
The Republican Party MP said he contacted the newspaper on several
occasions, asking for a retraction, but his request was not granted.
"Please tell me, if it was you, what would you do? How could I be
involved in narcotics, arms sales and human trafficking and no one
know about it?" he asked journalists rather rhetorically.
Hayrapetyan said he also contacted Haykakan Jamanak after the paper
published a piece in which it claimed the MP had assaulted a police
chief.
"I contacted them; I said, publish a retraction. They didn't. I
appealed to the courts. They come to court and say, 'Let's reconcile;
we'll publish a retraction.' I say, ok; I pull back from the court
case, [but] they don't publish a retraction," he said.
When journalists pointed out that the comments published in the
Haykakan Jamanak article were made by president of Moscow-based
Armenian club Miabanutyun ("Unity") Smbat Karakhanyan, Hayrapetyan
said he doesn't know who Karakhanyan is and that you shouldn't believe
everything you hear.
"And I heard that they did something very bad [referring to Haykakan
Jamanak chief editor Nikol Pashinyan] in Artik [penitentiary], which
is not becoming for a man. But I don't believe it - I honestly don't
believe it. Well, I'm not going to stand up and say that it's true,"
he said.
The deputy repeated that accusations of his being involved in the drug
trade offend him because "he has a bad attitude toward drug addicts."
"You can ask in Avan - when I find out there's a drug addict, what
I do," he declared.
Journalists then asked him to elaborate: what does he do when he
finds out about a drug addict?
"I call him, talk with him - I say you're doing something very bad,"
Hayrapetyan said laughingly. Journalists likewise began to laugh.
"You don't know what I have to do? I have to punish [him], hit [him].
Or you think that I would avoid [doing that]? If I say that I played
the violin, that's when you can be surprised," he continued.
Hayrapetyan said he can spend the 2 million 44 thousand drams he is
expected to receive from the daily in different ways: he can donate
the money to seniors' homes or orphanages, or provide assistance to
former player of Armenia's national team Karapety Mikayelyan, who is
need of a heart transplant.
"I will ask my colleagues [fellow plaintiffs in the case, MPs Samvel
Aleksanyan and Levon Sargsyan] to combine our funds, add something
more and give it away," the FFA President said.