Some
high-ranking officials are involved in behavior provoking criminal acts and
openly illegal actions against the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, Mr. Arman
TatoyanIn particular, the Deputy Chief of the Prime Minister’s Office of
Armenia, Mr. Taron Chakhoyan, and the deputy of the ruling faction of the
National Assembly of Armenia, Mr. Vahagn Aleksanyan "demand" with
openly insulting posts against the Human Rights Defender, to initiate
proceedings against a person, who a few days ago gave a sexual insult on the
social network, to the chairman of one of the standing committees of the
National Assembly of Armenia, representing the ruling faction, who has no state
status, that is, he has no position or official status.
In fact,
these high-ranking officials, in a publicly insulting post, expect the Human
Rights Defender to take actions that are prohibited by law for the Human Rights
Defender and that have nothing to do with scope of his competences. The Human
Rights Defender does not have the mandate to protect an official from a
specific insult from a specific person in a specific case, to establish any
influence over that individual.
Under
the posts of the Deputy Chief of the Prime Minister’s Office of the Human
Rights Defender and the mentioned deputy of the ruling faction of National
Assembly, comments are made from false and real social media accounts, which
are almost entirely hate and insult to the Human Rights Defender, Mr. Arman Tatoyan.
Among the
undeleted posts there are calls to dismiss at all costs Mr. Arman Tatoyan from
the post the Human Rights Defender after the elections; that is, calls for an
openly illegal act.
It is
obvious that these officials are obstructing the activity of the Human Rights
Defender. Moreover, the mentioned posts were spread on various fake pages,
providing a wider dissemination of insults and hatred towards the Human Rights
Defender. These posts were also disseminated by media outlets with a large
number of followers, perceiving that they were an insult and hatred towards the
Human Rights Defender of Armenia.
Their insulting
posts about the Human Rights Defender impelled the Office of the Human Rights
Defender to conduct a targeted study on their pages on “Facebook” social
network.
It became apparent that
the pages of these persons are full of undeleted posts of insults, swearing,
and calls for criminal acts, which they have encouraged over a significant
period of time. These are nothing but violations of the mental integrity and
other rights of our citizens.
Therefore, their pages on the social network are
nothing but dens of hatred.
The mentioned persons, holding high-ranking
positions in the executive and legislative powers, forming a part of the public
authority of Armenia and bearing the immediate responsibility of the atmosphere
of solidarity in the country, are in fact, themselves preoccupied with illegal
acts. With their irresponsible behavior, they further undermine the
prospect of restoring solidarity and peace in the country.
These officials, demonstrating a lack of
responsibility and distorted perceptions towards the public status they hold,
are preoccupied with blatantly illegal acts. They are preoccupied with
spreading insults, hate, and calls of illegal acts, which contain elements of
crime prescribed by the Criminal Code of Armenia.
The officials actually do not perceive that they are engaged
in behavior inspiring criminal activity. They do not realize that through
actions generating criminal acts they increase the tension and aggression in
the society, especially in this critical pre-election period.
I strongly warn the these high-ranking
officials not to attempt increasing the atmosphere of tension in our country by
their posts aimed at justifying or encouraging hatred and violence, and not to continue
their attempt to engage in law-violating acts. Any attempt to affrim oneselfs at the
expense of the public reputation of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia will
be immediately prevented.
Tomorrow,
on June 16, the posts of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister of the
Republic of Armenia and Member of the Ruling National Assembly Faction, together
with the evidences showing the encouragement of hatred and insults by them
during the pre-election campaign will be sent by specific letters to OSCE/ODIHR
Observation Mission(EOM), PACE co-rapporteurs, as well as to a number of other
international organizations and officials.
The mentioned materials will
also be sent to the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia, by maintaining
consistent follow-up over the examination of those materials.
Ultimately, upon the initiative
of the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia, the Armenian Criminal Code was amended
by Article 226.2 on April 15, 2020 for the very purpose of preventing such
actions that provoke a criminal act, which incites
any conduct of
public
calls, publicly justifying or propagating violence, that is
punishable under criminal law.
Arman Tatoyan
The Human Rights Defender
of Armenia
Հայերեն
