“The A.D. Sakharov Armenian Human Rights Protection Centre” NGO strongly condemns the public criminal prosecution and detention of lawyer Alexander Kochubayev, a member of the Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Armenia, for exercising the right to free speech, which was carried out under the provisions of Part 2 of Article 490 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia.
These and other similar cases prove that professional activity is not sufficiently protected in the Republic of Armenia, which seriously endangers the reputation of professional activity in both the public service and the private sector.
This is a consequence of the fact that violations of the right to freedom of speech (especially on social platforms) are often ignored by structures that have the authority and responsibility to coordinate this professional activity, which leads to a situation when a person carrying out professional activity in one field freely publishes defamatory information about persons carrying out professional activity in another field.
It is undeniable that the indifference of the structures authorized to coordinate professional activities in the sector reduces and devalues the restraining and regulatory role of the given structure for society and the state, under which conditions the initiation of public criminal prosecution from its extreme approach status turns into a routine procedure.
On the other hand, politicians and public servants should be guided by acceptable approaches formed in international and domestic judicial practice in such matters and should carry out their activities with the awareness that the limits of permissible criticism towards state figures are wider than in the case of private individuals.
Thus, we believe that effective measures should be taken in the Republic of Armenia to discuss published critical speech first with the civil and administrative legal protection tools, in case the subordination of which is denied by facts, the application of public criminal prosecution will be considered permissible, with complete restriction of personal freedom.
“The A.D. Sakharov Armenian Human Rights Protection Centre” Non-Governmental Organization
17․10․2025
