25 July 2017, 23:35
Journalist Ani Ovannisyan sentenced to 1.5 years in prison
The Yerevan court has found Ani Ovannisyan, Director of the “Analitik” Press Club, guilty of extorting money from the MP Tigran Urikhanyan, but acquitted her from the episode of extorting money from the Closed Joint-Stock Company (CJSC) “VTB Bank Armenia”. Ms Ovannisyan was sentenced to 1.5 years of imprisonment.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the above MP Tigran Urikhanyan had stated that the “Analitik.am” website posted false information about him, his family and his activities as the MP, while the director of the website, threatening to go on with such publications, extorted money from him. Investigators had also accused Ovannisyan of extorting money from the above CJSC for non-publication of compromising materials about the bank. Ms Ovannisyan herself has refused to plead guilty.
The court found her guilt of extorting money from Tigran Urikhanyan proved; however, treated the evidence of extortion from the CJSC “VTB Bank Armenia” as unconvincing.
The court was to acquit Ani Ovannisyan from both episodes, her advocate Liparit Simonyan asserts. According to his version, there is no evidence of the journalist's guilt in the materials of the case.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
Author: Tigran Petrosyan Source: CK correspondent
