Edgar Ghazarian is prosecuted for his harsh criticism of a Constitutional Court decision apparently designed to disprove Baku’s claims that a preamble to the Armenian constitution contains territorial claims to Azerbaijan. If convicted, he will risk up to five years in prison.
The court gave last September the green light for parliamentary ratification of a border delimitation agreement with Azerbaijan. The main focus of its ruling was not the agreement itself but the preamble that mentions a 1990 declaration of Armenia’s independence. The court downplayed its legal significance, effectively echoing the Armenian government’s assurances that it does not call into question its recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenian opposition figures and legal experts critical of the government condemned this interpretation of the preamble, accusing the court of overstepping its powers on Pashinian’s orders. Ghazarian went farther, saying that the ruling amounts to high treason.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee on Friday charged him with spreading “defamatory information” about Constitutional Court judges installed by the country’s current political leadership. The law-enforcement agency also asked a Yerevan court of first instance to place him under “administrative surveillance” pending investigation.
The court largely accepted the demand on Sunday, banning Ghazarian from harshly criticizing not only judges but also law-enforcement and other officials until a verdict in the case.
Ghazarian strongly denied the accusation when he spoke to journalists outside the court on Saturday.
“Instead of taking my statement as a crime report and investing circumstances of the treason, they are telling me, ‘Why are you calling them traitors?’” he said. “But what should I call them? Those people are traitors.”
The maverick activist, who hosts a podcast on YouTube and is frequently interviewed by pro-opposition media, reacted scathingly to the court order issued the following day, mockingly praising the Armenian judiciary. His lawyer, Ruben Melikian, accused the Armenian authorities of trying to silence him.
Zhanna Aleksanian, a veteran human rights activist, also denounced the criminal proceedings against Ghazarian as an illegal infringement on the freedom of expression.
“Edgar Ghazarian has criticized the Constitutional Court’s decision and its essence,” Aleksanian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “He has the right to criticize it.”
Ghazarian had served as a provincial governor and Armenia’s ambassador to Poland during former President Serzh Sarkisian’s rule. He became the chief of the Constitutional Court staff after Sarkisian was toppled in the 2018 “velvet revolution.” He lost that post in 2020.
In 2022, Ghazarian set up a fringe opposition group to campaign for Pashinian’s resignation and prosecution on treason charges. Opposition lawmakers nominated him for the then vacant post of Armenia’s human rights ombudsman the following spring. Ghazarian heard verbal abuse and threats from pro-government parliamentarians when he appeared before a parliament committee at the time.
One of them pledged to “cut the tongues and ears of anyone” who would make disparaging comments about the 2018 regime change that brought Pashinian to power. The lawmaker was not prosecuted or subjected to disciplinary action.