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The Helsinki Committee of Armenia has published its annual Human Rights in Armenia 2019 report.

In the introduction, the authors of the report state that the influence of the logic of the 2018 revolution was still predominant as Armenia entered 2019. As a result of the 9 December 2018 snap parliamentary elections, the My Step bloc headed by Nikol Pashinyan obtained over a 70% majority in the Armenian National Assembly and formed a single-party government.

“It should be emphasized that in the entire history of independent Armenia no other political force or politician has had power of such an absolute majority,” the authors said.

In its section on the Armenian judiciary the report highlights the criminal case against former President Robert Kocharyan and his trial, pressure on the courts, the criminal case against Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasyan, as well as the charges levelled against former National Assembly Speaker Ara Babloyan and former acting Deputy Chief of Staff of the National Assembly Arsen Babayan.

“All this can be qualified as political persecution aimed at exerting pressure on Chairman of the Constitutional Court Hrayr Tovmasyan and forcing him to resign,” the report said.

Commenting on the freedom of speech in Armenia, the report says a total of 246 cases of various violations of the rights of reporters and mass media were recorded in the country in 2019.

Of those, 4 were cases of physical violence, 134 were cases of pressure brought to bear on media outlets and their staff members and 108 were violations of the right to obtain and disseminate information.