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Environmental activist and human rights defender Oleg Dulgaryan has denounced defamation lawsuits against activists in Armenia for exercising their right to free speech.

“There are attempts to characterize opinions as defamation through legal actions in Armenia in a blow to freedom of speech and democracy,” he told a news conference in Yerevan on Monday.

Dulgaryan, who leads the Center for Community Mobilization and Support NGO, revealed last week that the Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC) had filed a defamation lawsuit against him, seeking a denial and a sum of 6,000,000 drams (approximately €14,000).

“Such legal processes are characteristic of only non-democratic countries and societies. I am confident that in Russia, the history of suppressing free speech and activists started with civil lawsuits against human rights defenders, later escalating to criminal cases and long-term imprisonment,” he underscored.

Dulgaryan claims the act of filing lawsuits against activists exercising their right to free speech amounts to persecution.

“It’s also the case in Armenia. Incidentally, the company [ZCMC] stated resorting to such a practice after the Armenian government was granted shares in it. The government bears responsibility, perhaps the biggest responsibility, for such practices as a shareholder,” he added.

Dulgaryan unveiled plans to apply to international human rights organizations if legal actions against him and his fellow activists continued in Armenia.