Vardan Ghukasyan, the mayor of Gyumri, has filed a lawsuit against National Assembly Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan and the Republic of Armenia, demanding a public retraction of allegedly defamatory statements, recognition of the violation of his presumption of innocence, and monetary compensation, according to Hetq.
Rubinyan referred to Ghukasyan as a “corrupt scoundrel” in several Facebook posts, following criminal charges brought against the mayor by the Anti-Corruption Committee.
In one post, Rubinyan wrote under Ghukasyan’s photo: “6 months and 1 day. According to the Anti-Corruption Committee, this is how long it took for him to return to his beloved bribe-taking ways and get caught. Politically responsible for this are those who made him mayor — Kocharyan, Sargsyan, Vanetsyan, the ARF, and others. Also responsible is the one who blessed him, Bishop Ktrich Nersisyan, with his power-hungry archbishop companions. And they want to repeat all this on a national scale in 2026 to resume their looting. We will not allow it.”
Ghukasyan’s claim includes a demand for public retraction of these statements and AMD 500,000 as compensation for non-material damage due to defamation.
He further argues that his right to a fair trial was violated, specifically the presumption of innocence, and seeks an additional AMD 500,000 from the state for the resulting non-material damage.
The claim was submitted to the Shirak General Jurisdiction Court on November 24. However, the court has not yet decided whether to initiate proceedings.
On October 20, 2025, Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee announced that extensive operations and covert investigations had yielded evidence suggesting that Gyumri’s mayor and chief architect were involved in a bribery scheme. Ghukasyan was arrested inside the municipal building and remains in custody.
