The
Human Rights Defender Ms. Anahit Manasyan published a study on the examination
of cases of incitement to hatred and calls to violence in the criminal justice
system of Armenia.
It was
carried out jointly with the Institute of Liberal Politics NGO, within the
framework of the "Combating hate speech for the sake of pluralism and
tolerant democratic society" project, which is implemented with the
support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Armenia. The study
was conducted by an expert.
The
domestic practice of investigating incitement to hatred and calls to violence
provided for by the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia was analyzed, the
existing problems were highlighted and recommendations for their solution were
presented.
17 of
the 19 criminal proceedings studied referred to the alleged cases of calls for
violence, promotion or justification of violence on the grounds of the victim's
"political or other views" or "public activity". As to the
other two criminal proceedings, the persons were accused in one case of
inciting national, and in the other, of inciting national and religious enmity.
Based
on the results of the analysis of international standards, including the case
law of the European Court of Human Rights, the main circumstances that should
be taken into consideration by law enforcement agencies and courts during the
examination of cases related to hate speech were identified, and the extent to
which the mentioned circumstances are taken into consideration in practice was
assessed.
Based
on the results of the study, the following recommendations were presented:
1.
Develop guidelines/manuals for the investigation of crimes provided for in
Articles 329-330 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia.
2.
Develop a training course for investigators, prosecutors and judges, addressing
in more detail the specifics of hate speech investigation and carry out
periodic trainings.
3.
Carry out public awareness-raising about the mentioned crimes, especially among
the most vulnerable groups.
The
views expressed in the study may not fully express the views of the Human
Rights Defender, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Armenia and
the "Institute of Liberal Politics" NGO.
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