Pashinyan's Visit to Ararat Accompanied by Violations: Demands for Immediate Criminal Case

The Election Monitoring Committee, through monitoring of media and social networks, as well as interviews with journalists, has determined that Nikol Pashinyan, the candidate for Prime Minister from the Civil Contract party, visited the Ararat region on June 4 for election campaigning, which was accompanied by a number of violations:

1. Widespread use of administrative resources during working hours;
2. Distribution of hate speech by Nikol Pashinyan;
3. Obstruction of the professional activities of journalists covering the events.

Specifically, citizens participating in the campaign rally insulted and hurled profanities at Tert.am journalist Ani Gevorgyan and Yerevan.Today journalist Syuzan Badoyan. One citizen struck Ani Gevorgyan and seized her phone. The citizens also damaged filming equipment and attacked the vehicle transporting journalists. Moreover, no manifestations of violations of professional ethics by journalists were recorded.

Journalists were also obstructed in their professional activities by police officers, who were accompanied by unidentified individuals in civilian clothes who continuously instructed the police officers throughout the event.

During the rallies, Nikol Pashinyan spread hate speech and effectively incited attacks on the streets against opponents and dissenters.

The Election Monitoring Committee strongly condemns these actions, finds elements of criminal composition present, and therefore demands that the competent authorities immediately initiate a criminal process and prosecute all individuals who have committed crimes, including the de facto acting Prime Minister.

At the same time, we call on the Chief of Police of Armenia to identify the individuals in civilian clothes accompanying the police officers, disclose their positions and authorities, and ensure that such phenomena are eliminated in the future.

We draw the attention of the Central Electoral Commission to the fact that Nikol Pashinyan, the candidate for Prime Minister from the Civil Contract party, is using administrative levers during campaigning and spreading hate speech, which has resulted in attacks against journalists.