First court verdict delivered in Armenia for insulting government officials
YEREVAN, February 3. /ARKA/. On February 2 a court in the Armenian capital Yerevan delivered the first verdict on insulting a government official after the parliament approved last year a bill drafted by the pro-government lawmakers that criminalizes insulting government officials and other public figures.
Under the amendment to the Armenian Criminal Code, individuals voicing “grave insults” or offending others’ dignity in an “extremely indecent manner” must be fined up to 500,000 drams (just over $1,000).
According to prosecutors, the indicted citizen, identified as P.S , called September 20, 2021 the police from his cell phone and while speaking to the policeman he complained of the poor work of the public transport in the city and used insulting, indecent words against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Minister of High Technology industry Vahagn Khachatryan and members of their family.
The verdict found the man guilty of committing the crime and sentenced him to 500 thousand drams (more than $1000) fine.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, as of December 31, 2021 the amendment in question was used to initiate 263 criminal cases involving insult of officials. Later 30 cases were dropped, while
another 11 were combined with other criminal cases.
Investigations into 214 criminal cases are underway, according to prosecutors. Thirty-one people were charged under this Penal Code article. Eight criminal cases were referred to courts.
Freedom House stated last September that the amendment criminalizing "serious insults" of officials and public figures signified a clear degradation of democratic norms in Armenia, including freedom of speech. It urged the Armenian authorities to immediately stop applying this unconstitutional law criminalizing libel.
In a resolution on functioning of Armenian democratic institutions, approved late in January 2022, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PASCE) called on the authorities to ensure that the balance between the freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the dignity of the person, which forms part of the right to privacy protected by Article 8, is respected, and also to ensure that the legislation on penalties for insult and defamation is applied uniformly by the prosecutor’s office, in a restrictive sense so that it is not used in an arbitrary manner against individuals and the media.
All forms of libel had been decriminalized in Armenia in 2010 -0-
