Lawyer deplores EU silence amid crackdown on free speech in Armenia
Speaking at the rally, lawyer Ruben Melikyan said the protest was intended as “a sign of shame” for the EU, arguing that the values the Union has promoted in Armenia for decades were now being undermined.
Melikyan criticized the authorities’ growing intolerance toward dissent, pointing to recent criminal cases that have drawn strong condemnation from opposition groups and human rights activists. He referred in particular to the detention of two opposition podcasters on hooliganism charges for using the word “buttocks” during a broadcast as confirmation of the erosion of free speech.
AntiFake founder Narek Samsonyan and fellow activist Vazgen Saghatelyan have been held in pre-trial detention for two months on hooliganism charges widely seen as politically motivated.
Melikyan, who joined the protest after a court hearing involving Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, criticized an expanding pattern of politically tinged prosecutions. He accused the presiding judge of repeatedly authorizing detentions of senior clergy.
The lawyer expressed hope that EU officials would invite them in to present documents outlining what they view as politically driven cases.
Vahe Movsisyan, another protester, accused the current authorities of creating a “dictatorship” by crossing all red lines, where anyone, including clergymen or podcast hosts, can be arbitrarily detained. “Today, anyone who criticizes the government risks going to jail,” he said.
Movsisyan warned that individuals opposing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s views, particularly regarding relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, could face imprisonment, saying the prime minister asserts that “he alone is the power”.
“This is outright dictatorship. If you oppose Nikol Pashinyan, you are subject to prosecution, whether you are an elected mayor, a clergyman serving the Armenian Apostolic Church or an ordinary citizen,” the protester stated.
