Yerevan mayor loses third court case against opposition MP

Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan has lost a third legal battle against opposition politician Ishkhan Saghatelyan, according to Saghatelyan’s lawyer Vahe Grigoryan. The Court of Cassation has rejected the Municipality’s appeal againt a lower court ruling, making it final and not subject to further challenge.

In a social media post on Thursday, Grigoryan said the mayor had filed four separate cases seeking to fine Saghatelyan up to 300,000 drams each, totaling 1.2 million drams, over his role in organizing anti-government protests and spontaneous rallies in 2022.

The Administrative Court had previously dismissed all four claims. The Municipality appealed the rulings and after losing three cases at the Administrative Court of Appeals, sought review from the Court of Cassation. Grigoryan noted that in the latest case the Municipality did not have the legal standing to file a cassation appeal, a right reserved exclusively for the mayor.

The fourth case remains pending before the Administrative Court.