Criminal responsibility will be set for the most dangerous manifestation of hate speech

Today the Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Srbuhi Galyan held a public discussion with the participation of the representatives of interested bodies. Discussion of the project “Submission of proposals and guidelines on the collection of separate data on discrimination based on hate speech and hate crimes” was organized by the joint efforts of the Ministry of Justice, the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia and the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan.

Deputy Minister Galyan welcomed the participants of the discussion and thanked the CoE Yerevan Office and the European Union for their continuous support and assistance in addressing the issue of hate speech, outlining its boundaries and establishing adequate responsibility.

According to Srbuhi Galyan, the issue is very delicate as it is closely related to freedom of speech and its boundaries. “Today in our country an unprecedented reality is recorded. We have unlimited freedom of speech, and sometimes under the guise of freedom of speech we encounter hidden or sometimes even open hate speech, which is unacceptable in our state and should receive adequate response, “said Galbyan and informed that the Minister of Justice is currently developing a relevant draft law that establishes criminal responsibility for the most dangerous manifestation of hate speech, that is, any social or personal nature of the person calls for public violence to be perpetrated, or to justify or propagate such violence publicly.

At the end of the discussion, the Deputy Minister expressed the hope that this expert discussion will greatly contribute to identifying the problems existing in the field of discrimination, hate crimes and hate speech and will help to find an effective solution to the problems that exist in our country today, “Galbyan emphasized.

Head of the CoE Yerevan Office Natalia Vutova stressed the importance of organizing discussions in such a format and expressed confidence that this project, developed with the support of interested parties, would yield a positive result.