Vardanyan: Insults Should Be Prohibited in Armenia

Insults should be prohibited in Armenia. This was stated by Vladimir Vardanyan, the chairman of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly and a member of the ruling party, while commenting on the statement from Freedom House.

“Insulting language as a moral norm has been prohibited in Armenia, it is prohibited and I hope it will remain prohibited. Insults as a category should generally be excluded from public discourse,” he said.

According to Vardanyan, the environment formed by insults on social media could lead to criminogenic phenomena. He pointed out that insults are not an expression of freedom of speech, but rather a limitation of freedom of speech in those legal cases where even the European Court of Human Rights does not extend protection to those who use insults.

“I am not talking about other forms of insult; I am specifically discussing insults. You know that the purpose of the law is to rectify the situation with insults,” he emphasized.

It is noteworthy that Freedom House expressed concern regarding 260 criminal cases initiated in Armenia for insulting state officials. The human rights organization has called on the Armenian Parliament to repeal this legislative norm.