YEREVAN, JULY 25, NOYAN TAPAN. Lawyer Artur Grigorian representing the interests of former RA Prime Minister Hrant Bagratian is going to appeal against the July 10 judgement of Yerevan Civil Court at the RA Civil Appeal Court. He said this at the July 24 meeting with journalists classing the case examined against the former RA Prime Minister by the lawsuit of the current Prime Minister as to some extent political persecution. Current RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian when being the CBA Chairman applied to the court with a lawsuit against former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratian demanding refuting information discrediting his honor, dignity, and business authority. The court had partially sustained the lawsuit. According to the court, the expression "Tigran Sargsian had been chasing Ardshinbank long ago," is not subject to refutation, as it is an opinion, and on the rest the court judgement obliges to publish a refutation in the Aravot newspaper in a 10-day term by apologizing to Tigran Sargsian and to readers. By the way, apologizing is not envisaged by the Code of Civil Procedure, the court obviously surpassed its powers. A. Grigorian considers that the court has deprived them of the possibility to introduce proof by not sustaining their petition demanding a number of documents containing bank secret: in particular, these are all CBA Board decisions on the process of Ardshinbank bankruptcy, on all quarter accounts of Agrobank (when bank's owner was Hakob Hakobian), on the decisions of Agrobank Board of Directors in the same period, on the case of ArmSavingsBank privatization." Hrant Bagratian in his article under the title Decisions Should Be Reconsidered, Former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratian Is Sure in the February 2 issue of the Aravot newspaper expressed his position on processes of stopping the activity of a number of banks formerly functioning in RA. He said that Ardshinbank, in essence, was a normally acting bank, and if there had not been the artificial criminal prosecutions, it is not excluded that the bank would be financially rehabilitated and would work normally. On the part of Agrobank Bagratian mentioned that bank's shares were deliberately given to a person not connected with bank's activity, which contributed to the process of bank's artificial bankruptcy. ArmSavingsBank's privatization also, according to the former Prime Minister, pursued concrete purposes, finally the assets of all these banks were given to Ardshininvesbank. H. Bagratian concluded that all that was done deliberately and the Central Bank of Armenia and its Chairman Tigran Sargsian were responsible for all that, as the law On Banking Activity gives CBA a possibility to bankrupt any bank. A. Grigorian said that if the Appeal Court's judgement does not satisfy them, the side, after the RA Cassation Court's decision, first of all in a 6-month term will introduce a preliminary letter and then a complete package of complaints to the European Court of Human Rights. "I welcome current Prime Minister's policy on fighting corruption, but the continuation of this case, in all appearances, will result in T. Sargsian's directly or indirectly delivering a blow to the RA rating when the European Court demands explanations from the RA government concerning the complaint," the lawyer said.

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