Margarita Mihneva wins a lawsuit against Kevork Kevorkyan

Journalist Margarita Mihneva has won at a court of second instance a case initiated against her by Kevork Kevorkyan as a representative of the Every Sunday show six years ago. The former BNT (Bulgarian National Television) anchor brought an action against the host of Neudobnite show (lit. trans. - The unnaceptable ones), broadcast on Channel 3, and against her daughter, claiming €250,000, because he felt slandered by Mihneva who had publicly stated that Kevorkyan was a a cop and a credit millionaire.

"This is a civil action brought against me and my daughter by Kevorkyan and Grisha Ganchev. Kevorkyan argued that due to my allegations Grisha Ganchev had refused to sponsor Every Sunday with €250,000 and for this reason the contract for the show with BNT was not renewed," commented Mihneva. She added that Kevorkyan made the claim to impose an injunction on her home, which Mihneva had transferred on the name of her daughter.

"On January 11, the Sofia Court of Appeal confirmed the ruling at first instance of the City Court that the claims of Every Sunday were groundless, and Kevorkyan’s accusations against me were absolutely unsound. On the basis of documents given to me by Evtim Kostadinov, Chairman of the Commission on Secret Files, the court’s final ruling was that I had not slandered Kevorkyan. It proved to be true that he was a political agent and a credit millionaire, that he had drawn a huge credit on the back of the Foreign Ministry, and had received a hefty remuneration from Every Sunday. The most important fact, however, is that I had criticized Kevorkyan personally in 2003, and in the spring of 2004 Every Sunday Ltd., Litex Inc. and BNT closed a one-year contract, under which Litex remitted more than BGN 250,000 to the television as a sponsor of the show. The court ruled that Kevorkyan’s claim for €250,000 to me was an abuse of law on his part”, Mihneva specified.

According to lawyers, it is Kevorkyan’s specialty to instigate legal proceedings against celebrities, threaten them that he would win at court, and finally lose the lawsuits.