Criminal Case Initiated by Investigative Committee Over Facebook Insults

Since the enactment of the law criminalizing insults, the Investigative Committee has initiated one criminal case regarding serious insults. This was stated in response to a written inquiry by NEWS.am from the main department supervising the activities of the territorial investigative departments of the RA Investigative Committee.

The criminal case has been initiated within the Shengavit administrative district investigative division of the Yerevan city investigative department under the characteristics of the first part of the second section of Article 137.1 of the Criminal Code. This article pertains to the dissemination of materials containing serious insults about an individual, which has been committed using information or communication technologies or by other public means. The indicated crime is punishable by a fine ranging from five hundred to one thousand times the established minimum wage.

The Investigative Committee also informed that at the current stage of pre-trial proceedings, there is no individual with the procedural status of a suspect or accused in connection with the criminal case. According to our information, the initiation of the criminal case was prompted by an individual's report regarding being insulted on Facebook. It is noted that this concerns ordinary users and does not involve any officials.

It should be reminded that the amendment criminalizing insults came into force on August 31 of this year. Article 137.1 was added to the Criminal Code, which deals with severe insults. Crimes envisaged under this article are punishable by a fine or imprisonment for a period of one to three months.