Armenian human rights activist: The rule of law begins where  freedom  of speech is protected, not criminalized 

ArmInfo.The rule of law begins where the country's authorities find the strength not to punish freedom of speech. Lawyer Arsen Babayan wrote this on his  Facebook page, referring to criminal prosecutions of opposition figures in Armenia for their statements under articles on hooliganism.

Therefore, as the lawyer noted, the article on  "hooliganism" is  becoming a tool for restricting freedom of speech. "Although this  article is intended to criminalize actual violations of public order,  in practice it is used not to protect public safety, but to suppress  inconvenient speech," Babayan clarified.

As an example, the lawyer shared one of the court cases in which he  acts as a defender. Babayan noted that the charge was based on the  following logic: the individual had expressed a critical, harsh, but  not offensive opinion out loud in a public place. "No physical  violence was used, nor was any material damage caused.  Nevertheless,  the charge was framed as a  'gross violation of public order with  blatant disrespect for society.' In other words, an attempt was made  to portray the statement as a crime," the lawyer noted.

In this regard, he recalled that the European Court of Human Rights  has developed a clear approach over many years: freedom of speech  also protects against harsh, offensive, shocking, or disturbing  statements, but the state cannot use criminal coercion to punish  criticism, and 'public order' in this context cannot be an absolute  justification. "That is, if there is no actual violence, threat, or  direct call for physical violence, criminal prosecution becomes a  disproportionate intervention," Babayan clarified. The lawyer  believes this is a dangerous practice, because when the boundaries of  "hooliganism" are blurred, any loud word can be classified as a  crime, and citizens are forced to self-censor, which threatens the  guarantees of free speech.  "In this situation, criminal law loses  its character as a last resort. This is no longer just a legal issue.  It's a question of the quality of the rule of law or its complete  destruction. As a lawyer specializing in criminal proceedings, I am  convinced that words  must be protected, not criminalized," the  lawyer emphasized.  After all, as Babayan pointed out, the role of  the court is not to punish for inconvenient phrases, but to determine  where speech ends and  real danger begins. "And if today we  criminalize speech under the pretext of protecting public order, then  tomorrow the same tool can be applied to any other case," the lawyer  concluded. 

It should be noted that since the advent of "velvet power" in Armenia  following the well-known events of 2018, various opposition figures  have been persecuted for their views under various articles of the  criminal code.