Maragos joined HRH’s concerns about hate speech and the use of detention

Maragost noted that he had a very useful discussion with Anahit Manasyan, HRD of Armenia, regarding the human rights situation in Armenia and related cases, including the case of Artur Osipyan, before the elections.

Artur Osipyan, who was arrested after an argument with the Prime Minister in Arabkir, declared a hunger strike. Artur Osipyan from Artsakh reminded the prime minister of the negotiation process during the argument, and also criticized the former leadership of Nagorno Karabakh. Eventually, however, it came down to insults when the activist said that Aliyev was raising the issue of the return of Azerbaijani refugees. Hours later, Osipyan was charged with public incitement to violence, hooliganism and obstructing propaganda.

According to the RA HRD office, during the meeting with the EU ambassador, issues related to ensuring human rights in the electoral processes were discussed. Anahit Manasyan, in particular, referred to the impermissible manifestations of speech spread during the pre-election campaign, emphasizing that various manifestations of non-compliant, aggressive, discriminatory, hateful, labeling and insensitive speech that do not meet human rights standards are continuously recorded.

“The human rights defender stressed that in the context of the electoral process, the tools of legal responsibility should be applied with equal and uniform standards, excluding selective approaches,” the statement said.

Referring to the problem of the large number of measures of restraint in the form of deprivation of liberty, Nahit Manasyan noted that detention is often used with an unclear and non-uniform logic, and the sector needs systemic reform.