Armenian Parliamentary Speaker Alen Simonyan has filed a lawsuit against former President Robert Kocharyan for an ‘offensive statement’ made during a press briefing in January 2026. Simonyan is seeking over ֏2 million ($5,500) in compensation.
The lawsuit was filed on Thursday while Simonyan was still in Moscow on an official visit.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
Simonyan has asked the court to order Kocharyan to publicly apologise for the ‘offensive statement’ he made about Simonyan during a press briefing on 29 January. He has also demanded over ֏2 million ($5,500) in total, with roughly half intended to be compensation for the insult, with the remainder intended to cover court expenses, including attorney fees and the state duty.
On 29 January, Kocharyan was asked by journalists to comment on Simonyan’s criticisms of the army under his tenure, which came in response to Kocharyan’s message issued on Armenia’s Army Day.
‘We note with regret that over the past approximately eight years, everything possible has been done to weaken, fragment, and destroy our region’s most combat-ready and victorious army’, Kocharyan said in his Army Day message.
Shortly afterwards, Simonyan published a video on social media in which he claimed the army had poor food quality, that officers were humiliating soldiers, and that there was widespread corruption, allegations he said were based on his observations during his mandatory military service in the early 2000s.
Simonyan also argued that Kocharyan and his successor Serzh Sargsyan had ‘destroyed’ the army, calling the prevailing narrative of the Armenian army as the region’s most combat-ready a ‘fairy tale’.
‘If Alen Simonyan is supposed to assess the army’s combat readiness, then where have we come?’, Kocharyan said in response, adding ‘What does he understand about the army? I even doubt he served properly, because such slimy people cannot have served properly’.
Kocharyan also claimed that during his presidency, the army was strong enough that Azerbaijan ‘would never dare to attack’, arguing that even in the contact line there were only occasional ceasefire violations.
Simonyan vowed to challenge Kocharyan’s statement hours after it was made.
