Police Searching for Individual Who Insulted Under Photo of Pashinyan

According to information obtained by "Aravot", on September 13, the police of the Republic of Armenia received a letter stating that Hrant A. had made an insulting entry under a photo of Nikol Pashinyan. Measures are being taken to locate H. Avetisyan. The police's public relations department has confirmed that materials are being prepared in the Nor Nork division of the police.

As reported by 168.am, the insulting entry was made under a photo of Nikol Pashinyan published on the social network Facebook, and since the amendments to Article 137.1 of the RA Criminal Code have already come into effect, the local law enforcement officers have begun to apply it.

Article 137.1 stipulates severe insults: 1. Inflicting severe insult on an individual, cursing or insulting their dignity in an extremely indecent manner, is punishable by a fine from one hundred to five hundred times the minimum wage. 2. The act specified in Part 1 of this article or the dissemination of materials containing severe insults against an individual, if: 1) it was committed using information or communication technologies or publicly in another way; 2) it was committed due to the individual’s public activity, is punishable by a fine from five hundred to one thousand times the minimum wage. 3. The act specified in Part 1 or 2 of this article, which was committed periodically against the same individual, is punishable by a fine from one thousand to three thousand times the minimum wage or detention for a term of one to three months. Public activity is understood in this article as behavior associated with a person’s journalistic, publicistic activities, performance of official duties, public service or holding public office, and social or political activities. (Article 137.1 was added on 30.07.21 HО-323-N)

It is worth noting that with the adoption of this law, the interested current authorities had at one time, when they were in opposition, done everything to decriminalize it. However, in fact, now that they are in power, it has become necessary for them to criminalize insults again like air and water. Nevertheless, they probably understand that the army of those wishing to insult them will only grow day by day due to their, to put it mildly, incompetent governance and the commitment to bringing the country to the brink of ruin.

The absurdity of this law lies in the fact that they will still not be able to make its application widespread, because if someone is insulting, say, Nikol Pashinyan or another official from abroad, nothing will happen to them; they will not be pursued. Article 137.1 will naturally not apply to them. In the end, our authorities, who attempt to imitate America or Europe in everything and continue to speak about international standards, should certainly know that individuals are not subject to criminal prosecution for insulting US President Joe Biden or French leader Emmanuel Macron.