Criminal probe launched over Facebook post criticizing Pashinyan

Panorama.am

Armenian investigators have opened a criminal case over a social media post critical of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, a lawyer said, calling it political persecution and a violation of free speech.

Lawyer Varduhi Sargsyan told Panorama.am on Saturday that the Investigative Committee initiated proceedings under Article 330 of the Criminal Code, which covers public calls for violence or the justification or promotion of violence. The case stems from a social media post in which a citizen wrote: “You should be beaten so much with your own written book that you die.”

Sargsyan said she is not representing the individual involved and learned of the case through open sources. She argued that the post does not meet the legal criteria required to constitute a criminal offense, emphasizing that it was a quotation and did not contain any direct call for, justification of, or promotion of violence.

“This is yet another example of law enforcement being used to restrict freedom of expression and exert pressure on society,” Sargsyan said, adding that posts critical of Pashinyan are disproportionately targeted by authorities.

According to her, similar and in some cases harsher remarks about opposition figures rarely lead to criminal proceedings. In contrast, she said, the majority of such cases involve criticism of the prime minister. Sargsyan also noted that many cases concerning ordinary citizens go unreported, particularly those initiated between 2022 and 2024, which she claims are based on expressions of opinion rather than genuine threats.

“If the law were applied uniformly to both government and opposition figures, this perception might not exist,” she said. “In the current context, this is clearly political persecution aimed at suppressing free speech and exerting psychological pressure on the public.”