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Armenia’s outgoing Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan highlights the need to restore public solidarity in Armenia.

“Especially now we need to restore public solidarity, which is today disrupted because of reprehensible discourses. Unfortunately, the prospects for its restoration are quite elusive,” Tatoyan told a final news conference on his six-year term on Wednesday.

He said the labeling of certain groups led to a split in society, adding fake social media accounts and organized campaigns further deepened it.

Tatoyan denounced the dangerous public “discourse of insults”.

“The state has much to do here, but what is it doing? I believe it also contributes to the growth of all this, then starts fighting against the problems it has created with unacceptable methods,” the ombudsman noted.

He said the hate speech peaked during the 2021 elections in Armenia, afterwards a new law criminalizing “serious insults” against Armenian government officials was passed to clamp down on it.

“Now the situation is worse. The law on grave insults has become a tool to protect politicians and officials, while swearing and insults are still used in the public discourse,” Tatoyan said, adding various statements of government officials incite hostility in the country.