Human Rights Defender to Appeal to the Constitutional Court

The Human Rights Defender will appeal to the Constitutional Court to challenge Article 149.1 of the Criminal Code regarding electoral campaigning.

The amendments to Article 149.1 of the Criminal Code, made on April 28, 2021, are deeply concerning. This article imposes liability for "participating in electoral campaigning or conducting a referendum campaign, coercing someone to refrain from participating in electoral campaigning or conducting a referendum campaign, or obstructing someone in any way from participating in electoral campaigning or conducting a referendum campaign."

The amendments were hastily incorporated into the Criminal Code. The bill was included in the agenda of the National Assembly session and was adopted in its first and second readings and completely approved in a single day—April 28, 2021—without adequate professional and proper public discussions. It was not published on the 'e-draft.am' website, and several versions existed during the drafting phase.

The justifications provided are very superficial, posing risks for human rights violations. They do not demonstrate the legislator's intentions or the limits of law enforcement agencies and the judiciary's discretion in applying the amendments. No international standards were cited as the basis for these amendments, and the risks from the perspective of human rights were not analyzed.

Consequently, as evidenced by complaints and warnings, the article now presents problematic and illogical application in practice. Following the amendment to the Criminal Code, no practical criteria or guidelines were issued for law enforcement agencies and courts.

Currently, law enforcement agencies themselves indicate in their clarifications that they understandably lack practical experience in application and cannot provide a position on its implementation.

Given that these amendments to the Criminal Code would be applied in a very short period during extraordinary parliamentary elections and concern sensitive issues from a human rights perspective, they should not have been adopted without proper consultations and such shortcomings—especially without appropriate retraining for law enforcement agencies and the courts, or at least guidelines for them.

In light of the serious procedural shortcomings in the amendment process, as well as practical application, the Human Rights Defender is currently preparing an application to the Constitutional Court.