Yesterday Vazgen Manukyan, the Chairman of the National Democratic Union party, applied to the Prosecutor’s Office demanding institution of a criminal case against the Haykakan Zhamanak daily, with the accusation of insult and slander. The reason is the article under the title "Vazgen Manukyan’s "Mein Kampf" – My Struggle" published on December 15 in the Haykakan Zhamanak, which, according to V. Manukyan’s December 19 statement, "is built on a written document ascribed to me without any legal grounds and crosses the limits of journalistic etiquette." “The whole article of the newspaper is written in order to belie me and blame me of groundless experience. During the press conference on December 18 I publicly announced that I am not going to sue the newspaper and that I will only check the authenticity of the handwriting through an expertise. I even offered the editor of the newspaper to decide on his own the source of expertise. It could even be sent to some foreign country for an expertise,” reads the statement of Manukyan. According to the statement on December 18 Manukyan’s authorized attorney, Vardan Zurnachyan phoned the editor-in-chief of the Haykakan Zhamanak, Nikol Pashinyan to check the status of their suggestion. “My attorney succeeded to contact him only late evening but Pashinyan refused to provide us with a sample of the handwriting. Under these circumstances I had no choice but to file a criminal suit against the newspaper for cynically belying and degrading my reputation. I am emphasizing that I would have applied to the Prosecutor if the newspaper agreed to cooperate with me and provide the sample of the handwriting for an expertise,” reads Manukyan’s statement.
