New Materials Prepared for Case of Offensive Post Under Pashinyan's Photo

Although the international human rights organization Freedom House has already criticized the Armenian government for initiating two criminal cases against those who made offensive comments under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's photo, new materials are being prepared for yet another similar case.

It became known to “Aravot” that on September 30, a report was received at the Nor Nork police station concerning Mushak Shushanyan, who allegedly made an offensive post under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's photo on his Facebook page. Efforts are being made to locate M. Shushanyan. Materials are being prepared.

It is believed that the reference is to the lawyer Mushak Shushanyan, who is currently under trial in the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction.

The charge brought against Mushak Shushanyan states: “He, registered on the publicly accessible Facebook social network with a user account, conditionally based on the political and other views towards the Prime Minister of Armenia, having taken advantage of the post-war situation in Armenia, the public sentiments present in society, and the socio-psychological vulnerable condition, has publicly made calls to violence in a manner directly visible to his “followers,” “friends,” and other users accessing the webpage, and has justified such violence, particularly by posting the following content on his mentioned page on December 13, 2020:

“Perhaps it would be desirable to judge Nikol for achieving a complete picture of treason, but judging him is unrealistic. The death penalty for Nikol has been determined; it must be carried out. And he is not even worthy of being executed with the dignity of a traitor’s end – the punishment for him and his filthy family will be merciless, cruel, and just.”

He also reportedly made another post on December 14, 2020, stating:

“This is a more dangerous enemy and Turk than the most real Turk. He is more dangerous than Enver, Talaat, and Ataturk. This is a 'mine' planted by Turks to finish the Armenian Genocide and to annihilate the last remnants of Armenia. Therefore, he and his filthy family are subject to annihilation. Kill this man, Armenians.”

At the bottom of this post was placed the photo of the Prime Minister of Armenia.

A measure of restraint has been applied to the lawyer in the form of a signature not to leave the city, and he has requested to be arrested in court, stating in an interview with “Hraparak” that: “They want to try and convict me on this case, they want to initiate a few more cases; this is my conviction that Nikol Pashinyan is a national and state traitor, and he has gone to war to hand over part of our homeland to the enemy, he is collaborating with the enemy; that is, he acts in favor of the enemy. This is my conviction, and no one, through any means, criminal prosecution, and so on, can silence me or prohibit me from publicly expressing my beliefs as necessary.”

Read also: “We are not defendants; we are heroes…”