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Ara Zohrabyan, Chairman of Armenia’s Chamber of Advocates, says they have introduced legislative packages envisaging punishment for insulting an advocate.

“We propose to criminalize insulting a lawyer during his/her activity, arguing that it's not a matter of an advocate's honor or dignity, but of providing proper legal advice to the advocate’s client,” he said, stating insults targeting an advocate may also affect his client.

in Zohrabyan's words, the draft law has remained on paper, though the council of advocates has approved it.

Another bill drafted by the Chamber of Advocates proposes criminalization of swearing on social media which, according to Zohrabyan, could have a negative influence on many generations. 

The Chamber of Advocates head also touched upon the tools of attorneys to influence the representatives of the authorities. In this context, he said that a working group was set up on January 23 to uncover such incidents recorded since January 1, 2018 and to make a large report based on the findings to submit it to the international community.

Attorneys, he said, also lack the support of senior officials.

“And if an advocate faces pressures, other advocates try to support him and have his back. There have been such cases,” Zohrabyan said, not excluding that if the concerns expressed by the advocates are not addressed, they are ready to take to the streets and stage protests.