The controversial lawmaker, Vahagn Aleksanian, lashed out at unnamed TV channels linked to the Armenian opposition in a speech delivered on the parliament floor this week. He claimed that ever since Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan they have been busy disseminating “hate speech” against Pashinian and his family members on a daily basis.
“They are not journalists, they are verbal prostitutes,” Aleksanian said without naming names or giving any examples of the alleged disinformation.
Ashot Melikian of the Yerevan-based Committee to Protect Freedom of Speech condemned the remarks, saying that nothing can justify public insults directed at reporters.
“The vocabulary used by Vahagn Aleksanian … is a classic example of hate speech,” Melikian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
“Vahagn Aleksanian must at least apologize to journalists,” he said. “If he doesn’t do that, the political force which he represents must do in his place.”
A former spokesman for Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, Aleksanian frequently lambastes the prime minister’s detractors in and outside the National Assembly. He was among three Civil Contract deputies who physically assaulted an opposition colleague in August, sparking a mass brawl on the parliament floor.
Shushan Doydoyan, the head of the Center for Freedom of Information, demanded that the National Assembly’s ethics commission investigate Aleksanian’s diatribe. She said the commission should also determine “whether his job is to defend the dignity of the family of a certain high-ranking official,” rather than pass laws.
“If so, he should starting working as a paid lawyer,” added Doydoyan.
Gegham Manukian, an opposition lawmaker who used to run a TV channel linked to the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), added his voice to the criticism.
“I also want to appeal to the political majority [in the parliament,]” he said. “Do not forget that you may not be in power and may need protection tomorrow. For everyone’s sake, do not allow such bullying.”
In the course of last year Armenian media associations repeatedly accused Pashinian’s administration of seeking to curb press freedom in the country.
In particular, they denounced government-backed bills that tripled maximum legal fines for “slander” and made it a crime to gravely insult state officials and public figures. They also criticized parliament speaker Alen Simonian’s decision to seriously restrict journalists’ freedom of movements inside the parliament building.
Melikian said on Friday that Armenia’s current and former authorities “very much resemble each other in terms of their attitudes” to the media.