Yerevan mayor ousted amid apparent countrywide crackdown on local-level opposition

By Mark Dovich

Yerevan mayor Hayk Marutyan was ousted at a city council vote Wednesday and replaced by councillor Hrachya Sargsyan. The move set off a political firestorm in Armenia, where many view the ouster of the popular mayor as politically motivated.

Sargsyan is seen as a close ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has yet to officially comment on the move to depose Marutyan.

The 44-10 no confidence vote was organized by representatives of My Step alliance, who enjoy a majority in the chamber and support Pashinyan’s government. A simple majority of 33 city councillors was required to remove Marutyan from power.

Before the vote, the My Step councillors accused Marutyan of failing to “fulfill the most important mission of eliminating systemic corruption from the Yerevan municipality.”

Still, Marutyan remains generally popular among Yerevan residents for his handling of a waste management crisis in 2019 and for his reform and development efforts.

The My Step alliance is dominated by the Civil Contract party, which alone controls the majority of seats in the National Assembly, Armenia’s one-chamber legislature.

It is a startling turn of events for Marutyan, who was once seen as one of Pashinyan’s closest political allies. Marutyan actively participated in the 2018 Velvet Revolution, which toppled the Republican Party government and catapulted Pashinyan to power.

Later that year, Marutyan scored a landslide victory in Yerevan city elections, presaging Pashinyan’s sweep of the National Assembly less than three months later.

But last December, Marutyan began distancing himself from Pashinyan, who led Armenia to

a disastrous defeat to Azerbaijan in last year’s war in and around Karabakh. Rumors of a growing rift between the two politicians have swirled in Armenian media since.

In the run up to June’s parliamentary elections, Marutyan pointedly declined to support Pashinyan’s reelection campaign.

At Wednesday’s city council meeting, Marutyan accused Pashinyan’s government of having “deviated from the revolution’s values” and criticized the authorities for alleged corruption.

A number of allegations of corrupt practices by various members of Pashinyan’s government have emerged in recent months, perhaps most notably involving Alen Simonyan, the parliament speaker and a close Pashinyan ally.

“Why did the speaker of parliament buy a car for himself worth $200,000, when the poverty level in the country is at 30%,” Marutyan asked council members Wednesday, referring to a November announcement by the Armenian government that it would purchase a luxury vehicle for Simonyan’s official use.

That announcement caused an uproar in Armenian political circles and on Armenian social networking sites.

Marutyan’s ousting comes amid an apparent government crackdown on local-level dissent and against the backdrop of stunning losses for the ruling Civil Contract party in a wave of municipal elections held earlier this year.

Those polls saw Civil Contract lose control of several major cities, including Gyumri and Vanadzor, Armenia’s second and third largest cities, respectively.

Earlier this month in Vanadzor, an electoral bloc led by Mamikon Aslanyan, who has headed the city since 2016, won the plurality of votes, with Civil Contract coming in second.

But in a striking development, Aslanyan was arrested last Wednesday, one day before he was due to take office, on charges of abuse of power and fraud. Aslanyan and his allies have rejected the charges as politically motivated.

Just days before, Aram Harutyunyan, a local politician in the town of Vardenis, was arrested, prompting city residents to blockade a major regional road. Harutyunyan’s electoral bloc, United Vardenis, is considered close to the Armenia Alliance, an opposition party led by former President Robert Kocharyan.

It is a pattern that has repeated itself throughout the country in recent months, with a number of opposition-allied mayors and community leaders finding themselves arrested on what they allege are trumped-up charges.

They include Arush Arushanyan, Lusine Avetyan, Suren Ohanjanyan, Manvel Paramazyan, and Mkhitar Zakaryan, all of whom lead communities in Armenia’s southernmost Syunik region, which has emerged as a bastion of opposition to Pashinyan following last year’s war.

Arushanyan, Paramazyan, Zakaryan and other local Syunik leaders had issued statements demanding Pashinyan’s resignation after Armenia’s military defeat to Azerbaijan.

Syunik has been particularly impacted by the outcome of last year’s war, as it borders broad swaths of territory, previously under Armenian control, that Azerbaijan captured in the course of fierce fighting.

In a Facebook post last week, Aren Manukyan, a project manager at Armenia’s Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center, wrote that “the government is taking clear and big steps back from democracy, which is especially evident in the local self-government elections.”

Arman Tatoyan, Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, has also been critical of the apparent crackdown on local-level dissent, saying last week that the arrests are “being done under the guise of so-called criminal and political proceedings” and are “fundamentally at odds with democratic norms.”

The post Yerevan mayor ousted amid apparent countrywide crackdown on local-level opposition appeared first on CIVILNET.

#reportsinenglish #alensimonyan #arenmanukyan #armantatoyan #civilcontract #haykmarutyan #mayorhaykmarutyan #yerevanmayor #yerevanmunicipality

Yerevan City Council votes to remove Mayor Hayk Marutyan from office

By Emilio Luciano Cricchio

Forty four members of the Yerevan City Council voted in favor of a no confidence motion against Mayor Hayk Marutyan on December 22. With the motion, the council members removed him from office and elected ruling party councillor Hrachya Sargsyan as mayor.

Ten members of the 65 seat city council voted against the motion. A simple 33 vote majority was needed to dismiss the mayor.

Marutyan was a key ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during the 2018 Armenian Velvet Revolution. He was elected mayor in September 2018, winning a landslide victory with over 80% of the vote. Marutyan left the party in December 2020 following the Nagorno Karabakh War.

Speculation about Marutyan’s further rift with Pashinyna’s ruling Civil Contract party had been in the headlines as of late. According to members of the ruling party, Marutyan had severed ties with the team that “brought him to power.” In addition, in a post on its official page on Facebook, the Civil Contract party accused Marutyan of not cleaning up corruption in the Yerevan Municipality, and taking credit for the work of others.

The Armenian Times newspaper, which is owned by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his family, has accused Marutyan of meeting with Pashinyan’s archrival, former President Robert Kocharyan. However, this was denied by both Marutyan’s spokesperson and Kocharyan’s legal team.

During today’s sessions of the Yerevan City Council, Marutyan explained why he had cut ties with the ruling party and launched a scathing attack.

The former mayor explained that disagreements had taken place between him and members of the ruling party on issues like the salary increases of ministers and deputy ministers.

“One might ask why didn’t you speak about this earlier? I have raised this issue many times within the Civil Contract party, at different levels, but to no avail,” Marutyan said.

“Why did the speaker of parliament buy a car for himself worth $200,000, when the poverty level in the country is at 30%?” Marutyan asked members of the council, alluding to a recent scandal related to Parliamentary Speaker Alen Simonyan’s purchase of a state-funded $200,000 BMW.

Furthermore, Marutyan stated that he would receive calls from officials of different ranks, asking him to dismiss staffers who had liked or written certain comments on Facebook that they did not approve of.

Marutyan’s dismissal, which is viewed as a political move, has caused an uproar in the country’s political arena. He remains popular among Yerevan’s residents for his administration’s handling of a waste management crisis in 2019 as well as for transport reform.

The post Yerevan City Council votes to remove Mayor Hayk Marutyan from office appeared first on CIVILNET.

#reportsinenglish #alensimonyan #civilcontract #hrachyasargsyan #marutyan #marutyandismissed #newyerevanmayor #yerevanmayor

What to expect for Pashinyan’s party following defeat in municipal elections

By Mark Dovich

Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party suffered defeat at the polls in the majority of six municipal elections held two Sundays ago, a blow to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who secured an unexpected landslide victory in national parliamentary elections in June.

Civil Contract failed to garner support from the majority of voters in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city, and three other municipalities in the southern Syunik region: Goris, Meghri, and Tatev.

At the same time, Pashinyan’s party maintained its majority support in Dilijan, a resort town in the northeastern region of Tavush, and Tegh, an amalgamation of seven border villages in southern Armenia.

Despite the losses, election analysts who spoke with CivilNet cautioned against drawing too broad of conclusions from the results, saying that the elections were not nationally representative and were, in each case, highly impacted by local, not national, issues.

And while the experts all said they expected the trend of declining support for Civil Contract across Armenia to continue — with further waves of municipal elections slated for November and December — they emphasized that local election results will not have much impact on the party’s ability to govern at the national level.

Local factors drive local results

In each of the municipalities where Civil Contract lost, local elites leveraged community-specific considerations to gain votes. In both Gyumri and Goris, for instance, electoral blocs associated with former mayors won the most votes.

“It is very important that in every city where Nikol Pashinyan lost there was a different, strong team, with different topics” of focus, said Stepan Grigoryan, head of the Yerevan-based Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation. Opposition parties organized “by social topics in Gyumri, and by the system of security in Goris” and other municipalities in Syunik, he said.

Gyumri has struggled to rebuild since a devastating earthquake destroyed much of the city in the late 1980s, and continues to lag socioeconomically.

Meanwhile, Syunik has been particularly impacted by the outcome of last year’s war, as it borders broad swaths of territory, previously under Armenian control, that Azerbaijan captured in the course of the fierce fighting.

Hrant Mikaelian, a senior research fellow at the Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute, also noted the importance of local alliances in contributing to Civil Contract’s losses in the recent elections.

“It’s one thing when it’s parliamentary elections and you have one or two major rivals. It’s another thing that in local elections, the ruling party is represented everywhere, while its rivals are represented very locally,” he said.

“So for example, those who won in Goris and in Gyumri, they are localized political powers…while Civil Contract is represented everywhere.”

In addition, Mikaelian cautioned against drawing nationwide conclusions from local election results.

“These results are not fully representative, because they’re representing only part of the country,” said Mikaelian. “For example, if we would have, let’s say, local elections in Gegharkunik or in some other provinces where Pashinyan has more support, I think his share would be higher.”

The elections took place only in three of Armenia’s ten regions, with half of the voting municipalities located in a single region, Syunik.

“Also what is worth noting is that the number of people who voted in these elections was very low,” Mikaelian said. Indeed, only about a third of eligible voters submitted ballots. Mikaelian said the low turnout was because the election campaign was “not very visible, and that’s why people were not mobilized.”

Absence of past presidents a key factor

All the analysts who spoke with CivilNet underlined the lack of participation by former presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan as another crucial factor that undermined Civil Contract’s support in the recent local elections.

“Many people, in my understanding, voted for Nikol Pashinyan back in June not because they were happy with Pashinyan’s domestic or foreign policy — because frankly speaking, there was very little to be happy about,” said Benyamin Poghosyan, chairman of the Yerevan-based Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

“Armenia de facto lost Artsakh, there is a dangerous situation in Syunik and Gegharkunik regions, and the economic situation also is not very good,” he continued. Artsakh is the term many Armenians prefer for Karabakh.

Instead, “many people simply voted for Civil Contract or for Nikol Pashinyan to reject or to prevent the potential return of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan,” two former Armenian presidents, widely reviled for their perceived corruption and support for powerful oligarchs.

But “in local elections when there is no direct involvement of either Robert Kocharyan or Serzh Sargysan, this logic does not work,” Poghosyan said.

“The incentive by which people voted for Nikol Pashinyan back in June 2021 was fear of the return of the former corrupt, oligarchic elites. If there is no such fear,” he argued, “why vote for Civil Contract?”

A win for Armenia’s burgeoning democracy

Pashinyan’s loss is Armenian democracy’s gain, according to Grigoryan. “The first point is that it is good that Nikol Pashinyan lost in several [elections]. This speaks about the democratic process. He didn’t go for falsifications.”

Since the 2018 Velvet Revolution, which catapulted Pashinyan to power and dislodged the Republican Party, which had ruled Armenia for about two decades, every nationwide election in Armenia has been deemed free and fair by international observers. The recent municipal elections by and large went smoothly as well.

In contrast, every national election under Republican Party rule was found to have serious shortcomings, including vote-buying and wide-spread falsifications.

Expect little change at the national level

Although Civil Contract lost in Gyumri and several municipalities in Syunik, experts did not envisage major ramifications for the ruling party nationwide.

“Nationally, I believe this will not harm them very much because, in any case, the parliament is controlled by Civil Contract with a constitutional majority. Pashinyan is in full control of the government,” Poghosyan said.

He also noted that Pashinyan “fully controls the law enforcement bodies. The National Security Service is under his direct personal control, the police is under his direct personal control, de facto the Investigative Committee is under his personal control, the Special Investigative Service also.”

In addition, Mikaelian noted that the Armenian government is highly centralized, meaning that local authorities have little control over many administrative matters.

Still, Poghosyan said he thinks that the “losses will trigger some internal fight inside Civil Contract, because Nikol [Pashinyan] is definitely not happy [with the results]. And he would like to punish those who are responsible. I believe that there will be a growing internal fight around whom to make the main culprit of the defeat.”

More losses to come in November and December

Analysts expect Civil Contract to suffer further losses in the two upcoming waves of municipal elections scheduled for November and December. Three towns — Ijevan, Kapan, and Stepanavan — are set to hold elections in November, while another 36 municipalities across nine of Armenia’s 10 regions will vote in December.

“I will say that this trend [of declining support for Civil Contract] will continue. Nikol Pashinyan will lose” Grigoryan said.

“Why? Because people are waiting for results from the government. In my view, there have been results, but not visible. People want very concrete things,” he said.

Poghosyan echoed Grigoryan: “ My understanding is that this [trend] will continue. Of course it does not mean Civil Contract will not win in any place. For example, Ijevan is Nikol Pashinyan’s hometown, and Civil Contract should have much more chances to win there.”

“I don’t think it will be easy for Civil Contract to win [widely], especially in those regions or provinces when there is a catastrophic situation concerning security.”

Grigoryan also highlighted security as an issue that could undermine Civil Contract’s chances of securing majorities in the upcoming local elections.

“A problem that may very well hinder Nikol Pashiyan is that a meeting of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia is planned on November 9. And they plan to sign something,” Grigoryan said, referring to recent reports swirling in the Armenian and Russian media that Pashinyan plans to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Moscow in early November. The leaders will reportedly sign agreements on border demarcation and delimitation and opening transport connections between their two countries.

“There is apprehension connected with the fact that this will be a bad document for Armenia. If this is the case, the opposition will make a big uproar, and Nikol Pashinyan will lose.”

The Russian government has so far not confirmed that the leaders plan to meet.

A spokesperson for Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, Vahan Hunanyan, has denied that a meeting between Aliyev and Pashinyan is scheduled to take place, saying that “the rumors spread by some circles…are clearly provocative and do not correspond to reality.”

The post What to expect for Pashinyan’s party following defeat in municipal elections appeared first on CIVILNET.

#reportsinenglish #civilcontract #defeat #localelection #municipalelection #pashinyan

Pashinyan submits five-year plan for legislative approval

By Mark Dovich

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made public an extensive five-year action plan on Wednesday that outlines the government’s priorities through 2026. In a speech presenting the plan, Pashinyan stressed that “Armenia's external security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, a just solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, and the creation of a favorable regional and international atmosphere around Armenia continue to be a priority for Armenia.”

Armenia’s constitution gives the National Assembly, as the country’s single-chamber parliament is officially known, 20 days to approve or reject the plan. The legislature is set to debate it next week.

The plan, which builds off a document Pashinyan released last year and campaign pledges made by his Civil Contract party during this summer’s snap parliamentary elections, is divided into six sections: security and foreign policy, economy, infrastructure development, human capital development, law and justice, and institutional development.

The plan proposes reforming Armenia’s armed forces, creating a foreign intelligence service, raising the minimum wage, eliminating extreme poverty, and investing heavily in infrastructure projects, among other major changes.

Over the coming days, CivilNet will publish a series that examines the most significant reforms envisaged in the plan.

In his speech on Wednesday, Pashinyan also stressed the importance of consolidating democracy in Armenia, saying that “the early elections of 2021 showed the irreversibility of democratic processes” in the country. He also said that the polls “were of exceptional importance for the restoration of public solidarity” in Armenia and called them “the people’s vote of confidence” in his leadership.

The elections, which resulted in an unexpected landslide win for Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party, were meant to resolve a monthslong political crisis over Pashinyan’s handling of the September-November 2020 war with Azerbaijan in and around Karabakh. The conflict ended in a disastrous defeat for Armenia and left thousands dead and tens of thousands more injured or displaced. The June vote was deemed “competitive and generally very well-managed” by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Much of Pashinyan’s speech was focused on Armenia’s foreign relations, with the prime minister underscoring the importance of Yerevan’s relations with Moscow and the country’s membership in the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The CSTO is a collective defense alliance founded in the 1990s by Russia, Armenia, and four other post-Soviet states.

Pashinyan also highlighted Armenia’s desire to continue negotiations over Karabakh through the Minsk Group, which was formed by the OSCE in the 1990s and is meant to encourage peaceful resolution of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. France, Russia, and the United States chair the group.

In a separate development Thursday, Pashinyan appointed Ararat Mirzoyan, a former National Assembly speaker and a close personal ally, as Armenia’s foreign minister. The post has been unfilled since May, when then-minister Ara Ayvazyan and his four deputies resigned en masse, reportedly over policy disagreements with Pashinyan.

The post Pashinyan submits five-year plan for legislative approval appeared first on CIVILNET.

#newsfeed #reportsinenglish #araayvazyan #araratmirzoyan #civilcontract #csto #fiveyearplan #governmentplan #osce #parliament #pashinyan

Shouting match in Armenia’s parliament underscores difficult path forward for legislative cooperation

By Mark Dovich

The outbreak of a shouting match on Wednesday between representatives of the ruling Civil Contract party and the opposition Armenia Alliance — less than two weeks into the new parliament’s term — has underlined the acrimonious relations between the government and the opposition, casting the prospect of future cooperation on critical legislation in serious doubt.

Armenia’s new parliament sat for the first time last week following snap elections in June, meant to resolve a monthslong political crisis over Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s handling of the September-November 2020 war with Azerbaijan in and around Karabakh, which resulted in a disastrous defeat for Armenia.

Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party retained its parliamentary majority in that vote, though it lost seats. The new National Assembly, as Armenia’s parliament is officially known, is composed of 71 Civil Contract lawmakers, 29 representatives of the Armenia Alliance, and 7 lawmakers from the I Have Honor Alliance. The vote was deemed “competitive and generally very well-managed” by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Wednesday’s altercation in the legislative chamber began when Vice Speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan, a leading representative of the Armenia Alliance and a former governor of the eastern Gegharkunik region, said that calling someone a “capitulator” and “land giver” constituted a political assessment and not a personal insult.

Saghatelyan was presumably referring to references by opposition politicians to Pashinyan as a “traitor” and “capitulator,” which have become common in the months since Armenia’s defeat in last year’s Karabakh war with Pashinyan at the helm.

Saghatelyan’s comment prompted Civil Contract lawmaker Narek Grigoryan to begin shouting that such a position was unacceptable. Opposition lawmakers then began yelling back at Grigoryan. The incident escalated such that Alen Simonyan, the head of the legislature, dispatched security staff to break up the quarrel. The shouting match lasted about 20 minutes — and was broadcast live despite attempts by security personnel and Simonyan himself to turn off reporters’ cameras.

Following the altercation, Simonyan gave a speech calling on opposition lawmakers to refrain from making personal insults toward elected officials. “I propose, out of respect for the citizens of Armenia, to consider that today we have exhausted the people’s patience,” he said. In addition, he personally appealed to lawmaker Seyran Ohanyan, who leads the Armenia Alliance bloc in parliament, to “close the page” on such insults.

For his part, Ohanyan called on representatives to “put aside what happened” at the National Assembly on Wednesday. Ohanyan previously served as Armenia’s Defense Minister (2008-2016) and is considered close to former presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, both associated with the Republican Party. The April-May 2018 Velvet Revolution, led by Pashinyan, dislodged the Republican Party from power after decades of rule.

The issue of the opposition’s use of insulting labels for Pashinyan has dominated parliamentary proceedings in recent weeks. During the previous parliament’s final session on July 30, lawmakers approved an amendment to the Criminal Code that would criminalize “grave insults.” Seventy-five out of 132 representatives voted in favor of the bill.

Vladimir Vardanyan, who introduced the amendment and at the time served as the chair of the legislature’s Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, said that the law was intended to tackle vulgarity and obscenity in Armenian politics and on Armenian social networking sites. “This bill is primarily aimed not so much at punishing individuals resorting to grave insults as having a preventive impact and eliminating insults from our society,” he said.

But opponents of the legislation have expressed concerns that the law may be used to stifle criticism of the government. Independent lawmaker Sofia Hovsepyan has noted that the opposition regularly criticizes the ruling Civil Contract party through insults, including by calling Pashinyan a “traitor” and “capitulator.”

Observers have criticized the new lawmakers for quarreling with each other, rather than working together to address Armenia’s many problems, not the least of which include ongoing border skirmishes with neighboring Azerbaijan.

Armenia’s male-dominated legislature has long been plagued with an epidemic of verbal abuse and physical violence, highlighting the fragile state of democracy in the post-Soviet republic.

The post Shouting match in Armenia’s parliament underscores difficult path forward for legislative cooperation appeared first on CIVILNET.

#reportsinenglish #armenia #armeniaalliance #civilcontract #fight #karabakhwar #nationalassembly #parliament #pashinyan #yelling

Armenia’s parliament curbs journalistic activity, criminalizes ‘grave insults’ in latest blow to freedom of speech

By Mark Dovich

National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan, a close ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, introduced changes to the Armenian parliament’s security rules on Tuesday under which reporters will no longer be allowed to enter the legislative chamber without advance permission. Additionally, members of the press will now be permitted to interview lawmakers only in a designated area.

Opponents of the changes have expressed concerns that the move effectively restricts journalistic activity in the legislature. Simonyan has hit back against such criticism.

“Using the word ‘restriction’ is incorrect, because this is about the coordination of [journalistic] work,” he said. “We have had a problem for years in that journalists are forced to run after deputies in the hallways, and there have been incidents when deputies have threatened and slapped journalists.”

This is the first week that Armenia’s new legislature is sitting following snap elections in June. Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party retained its parliamentary majority in that vote, though it lost seats. The new National Assembly, as Armenia’s parliament is officially known, is composed of 71 Civil Contract lawmakers, 29 representatives of the Armenia Alliance, and 7 lawmakers from the I Have Honor Alliance.

The vote, held over six months after Armenia’s disastrous defeat in last year’s war with Azerbaijan in and around Karabakh, was deemed “free, competitive, and fair” by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Observers have criticized the new parliament for apparently moving to erode freedom of speech, rather than working to address Armenia’s many problems, not the least of which includes ongoing border skirmishes with neighboring Azerbaijan.

In a separate development during the outgoing parliament’s final session last Friday, Armenia’s lawmakers approved an amendment to the Criminal Code that would criminalize “grave insults.” Seventy-five out of 132 representatives voted in favor of the bill.

If the legislation were to go into effect, “individuals making ‘grave insults’ or offending others’ dignity in an ‘extremely indecent manner’” would face fines of up to half a million drams, equivalent to roughly $1000.

Moreover, insulting others due to their “public activities” would be punishable with fines of up to one million drams (about $2000), while those who are convicted of repeatedly making such insults would face fines of up to three million drams (roughly $6000) and a maximum prison sentence of three months.

The law defines public figures as politicians, government officials, and civil society activists, among others, according to Radio Azatutyun, the Armenian service of the U.S.-funded outlet RFE/RL.

Opponents of the amendment have expressed concerns that the law may be used to stifle criticism of the government. Independent lawmaker Sofia Hovsepyan, for instance, noted that the opposition regularly criticizes the ruling Civil Contract party through insults, such as by calling Pashinyan a “traitor” and “capitulator.”

Opposition lawmaker Naira Zohrabyan has also voiced worries that the law may be used to silence opposition politicians’ criticism of the government.

But Vladimir Vardanyan, who introduced the amendments and serves as the chair of the legislature’s Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, dismissed such concerns, saying that the law was intended to tackle vulgarity and obscenity in Armenian politics and on Armenian social networking sites.

“This bill is primarily aimed not so much at punishing individuals resorting to grave insults as having a preventive impact and eliminating insults from our society,” he said.

The government supports Vardanyan’s legislation, Deputy Justice Minister Kristine Grigoryan has said.

In March, the National Assembly passed a set of amendments to the Civil Code that would have substantially raised the maximum damages for insult and defamation.

That legislation was roundly criticized by domestic and international press freedom advocates alike, who expressed fears that the changes would have a chilling effect on press freedom in the country.
Under pressure from numerous civil society groups, President Armen Sarkissian decided not to sign the bill into law and instead sent it to the Constitutional Court for further review. The Constitutional Court is scheduled to hear the case on October 5.

The post Armenia’s parliament curbs journalistic activity, criminalizes ‘grave insults’ in latest blow to freedom of speech appeared first on CIVILNET.

#reportsinenglish #alensimonyan #armeniajournalists #civilcontract #criminalizinginsults #nairazohrabyan #restrictions

ՁայնաZOOM. Բանակցություններ՝ Հայաստանի տարածք ներխուժած ադրբեջանական զինծառայողներին հանելու ուղղությամբ

ՍիվիլՆեթն ամփոփում է հունիսի 22-ի հիմնական իրադարձությունները։

• Հայաստանի տարածք ներխուժած ադրբեջանական զինծառայողներին հանելու ուղղությամբ տեղի են ունեցել բանակցություններ
• Արայիկ Հարությունյանը Ստեփանակերտի Վերածննդի հրապարակում հանդես է գալու ուղերձով
• Արցախում պահանջում են Արայիկ Հարությունյանի հրաժարականը
• Ռոբերտ Քոչարյանն ասել է՝ ինքը գործադիրի մարդ է, օրենսդիր մարմնում իրեն չի պատկերացնում
• Նիկոլ Փաշինյանի նախաձեռնությամբ տեղի են ունենում քաղաքական խորհրդակցություններ մի շարք քաղաքական ուժերի ղեկավարների հետ
• Փաշինյանին շնորհավորում են ընտրությունների կապակցությամբ

The post ՁայնաZOOM. Բանակցություններ՝ Հայաստանի տարածք ներխուժած ադրբեջանական զինծառայողներին հանելու ուղղությամբ appeared first on CIVILNET.

#podcast #արցախ #թոփ #լրահոս #ձայնաzoom #քաղաքական #քաղաքականություն #arayikharutyunyan #artsakh #civilcontract #demonstrationsinartsakh #nagornokarabakh #nikolpashinyanqaxaqaciakanpaymanagir #արայիկհարությունյան #արտահերթընտրություններ #հետընտրականզարգացումներ #ռոբերտքոչարյանասուլիսի #ցույցերարցախում #քպշտաբ

Հետընտրական․ ինչ են ասում երևանցիները

Արտահերթ խորհրդարանական ընտրություններն ավարտվեցին։ Նախնական արդյունքներով խորհրդարանում մեծամասնություն կկազմի Նիկոլ Փաշինյանի ղեկավարած «Քաղաքացիական պայմանագիր» կուսակցությունը։ ՍիվիլՆեթը զրուցել է երևանցիների հետ՝ նրանց տրամադրությունների ու ընտրությունների արդյունքների մասին։

The post Հետընտրական․ ինչ են ասում երևանցիները appeared first on CIVILNET.

#armvote #արտահերթընտրություններ2021 #թոփ #լրահոս #հետընտրականզարգացումներ #քաղաքական #քաղաքականություն #artahertyntrutyunner #civilcontract #electionsinarmenia #hetyntrakanzargacumner #nikolpashinyan #qaghaqaciakanpaymanagir #snapelections #winningparty #արտահերթընտրություններ #ընտրություններ #հետընտրականհայաստան

#CivilContract was added to Game Sense yesterday. #videogames #gaming https://gamesense.co/game/civilcontract/