Official Threatened with Disciplinary Action for Liking a Facebook Post: Marutyan

The former mayor of Yerevan and former member of the 'National Progress' faction, Hayk Marutyan, wrote on his Facebook page:

“Dear people, congratulations! The democracy of the ruling Civil Contract party has set a new record today: from now on, a Facebook like has officially become grounds for imposing administrative liability on employees.

It turns out that the director of the 'Greening and Environmental Protection' municipal organization under the Yerevan municipality sent a letter to an employee informing them that they had liked my Facebook post, which was deemed to show ‘disrespect towards the organization.’ Consequently, the employee is threatened with disciplinary action. This officially confirms what we have repeatedly stated: the ruling party governs the country through Facebook and pursues individuals for 'undesirable likes.'

As they say, it would be laughable if it weren't so sad. I hope that human rights organizations and the Ombudsman will provide an assessment of this situation, and in the meantime, I assure you that all bureaucrats involved in corrupt practices will face justice before the law.”