On 8 September, the Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alen Simonyan initiated amendments to the Civil Code to increase the amount of compensation for libel and insult. The initiative was opposed by the Union of Journalists of Armenia, which called it an attempt to restrict freedom of speech, reported the Caucasian Knot.

The proposed amendment envisages to increase the compensation for insult by five times - from one million drams (more than 2000 USD) to five million drams (over 10.000 USD), and for libel - from two million drams (about 4000 USD) to ten million drams (about 20.500 USD). “The increase in the amount of compensation will provide additional guarantees of protection from libel or insults from both individuals and the media,” the draft amendments noted.

The Union of Journalists in Armenia condemned this proposal. “The initiative to increase the amount of compensation for insult and defamation will become a tool for the authorities aimed at limiting freedom of speech in general, and freedom of the media in particular,” read the Union’s statement. The authors of the statement believe that the legislative amendment contradicts international obligations and harms the foundations of democracy. They proposed not to include the project in the parliament's agenda. “The resolution decriminalizing defamation, adopted by the PACE on 4 October 2007, stated that the maximum threshold for compensation should be reasonable and proportionate so as not to jeopardize the viability of the media. In addition, legal guarantees should be created excluding compensation disproportionate to the harm actually done,” the statement further elaborated.

Director of the Freedom of Information Center Shushan Doydoyan called the amendments to the Civil Code ineffective. “Conscientious media will be threatened, and those media that write custom-made articles will continue this vicious practice. Ten million drams is a large sum for Armenia, it will lead to bankruptcy of the media,” she said.  “The Armenian media went through a similar practice of punishing with a whip in the 2000s. The Oragir newspaper, whose editor-in-chief was the current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, closed in 1999 after a court decision to recover compensation in the amount of 25.000 USD. And what is surprising is that a political force headed by the Prime Minister, who himself went through it, acts similarly to the previous authorities,” she added. As a solution to the problem of libel and insults, Doydoyan proposed to form an extrajudicial body represented by journalistic organizations. “This body will issue opinions on ethical violations and legal disputes, which can be brought to court. The issued opinion, in particular, will make it possible to understand how fair the claims are,” she said.  

The head of the Helsinki Association of Armenia and activist, Nina Karapetyan said that with the initiative the Armenian authorities want to protect themselves from criticism. A similar opinion was shared by the editor-in-chief of the information-analytical portal “Orakarg,” political scientist Armen Vardanyan.  “After the revolution, representatives of the previous government invested millions in information resources through which fake news is spread, which, as a result, affects the rating of the authorities,” he said.  “The amendments to the code will partially solve this problem, but more serious tools are needed to fully solve the problem,” he added.