Roman Yeritsyan, the lawyer for the fifth President of the Republic of Artsakh, Samvel Shahramanyan, stated during a press conference that although the claim was dismissed, the Civil Court of General Jurisdiction in Yerevan made several important legal findings.
According to Yeritsyan, the court recorded the most critical point: “The signing of any document under coercion or the direct threat of force has no legal validity and is null from the moment of signing. This principle is derived from both national and well-established international law,” as reported by Panorama.am .
He emphasized that the court determined the decree in question was issued under coercion or the immediate threat of force.
The lawyer added that while the plaintiff’s honor and dignity were not deemed harmed, the information in the textbook was incomplete. The court acknowledged Shahramanyan’s concerns as legitimate and lawful.
“Effectively, the court drew the Ministry of Education’s attention to these circumstances, suggesting that the information in the textbook be updated accordingly,” Yeritsyan said.
Yeritsyan also stressed another key point from the ruling: “We now have a court judgment, issued by a body of Armenian justice, confirming that the so-called decree to dissolve Artsakh, signed by the President of Artsakh, is null and void. The court explicitly stated it is invalid from the moment it was signed.”
“Have we achieved justice or not? One could say we’ve partially achieved it. The court noted that the decree contains information that does not fully reflect reality, and that the decree itself is null due to being signed under threat or use of force,” he continued.
He argued that it would be incorrect to claim that Shahramanyan lost the case simply because the claim was rejected. On the contrary, he achieved what he had aimed for: a legal recognition that the decree is null, and that the information was incomplete and inaccurate.
He concluded by saying they are awaiting the court decision to take legal effect, after which they will send a formal request to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports to consider the court's findings. Specifically, they seek the inclusion of full information in the textbook about the conditions under which the decree was signed.
In September 2025, Yeritsyan had announced that a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Shahramanyan against Armenia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports and textbook author Nzhdeh Hovsepyan, arguing that the claim in the 9th grade Armenian history textbook — stating that the President of Artsakh had signed a decree dissolving Artsakh — was false.
