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Former Deputy Justice Minister, well-known lawyer Aram Orbelyan has filed a defamation lawsuit against Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The lawyer demands the premier to refute his “defamatory statements” and provide compensation for non-pecuniary damage, Panorama.am learned from the Judicial Information System.

The case has been assigned to judge Alexei Sukoyan, but it has not yet been accepted into the proceedings.

Aram Orbekyan's legal representative Narine Beglaryan told Panorama.am in an interview that the subject of the dispute is the remarks made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during the campaign for a "Yes" vote in the constitutional referendum in the town of Kajaran on March 10, alleging that Aram Orbelyan, second President Robert Kocharyan's lawyer, repeatedly “interfered” in a criminal case into the March 1-2, 2008 post-election events in Yerevan being heard by the Constitutional Court.

The lawyer described the prime minister’s statements as “ungrounded” and “untrue”.

“We have used the protection measures prescribed by the law, particularly to demand the denial of defamatory statements. Moreover, the law envisages that the person whom such statements concern may claim up to 2 million drams in compensation. We have demanded compensation for the maximum amount of damage prescribed by law,” she said.