Freedom House concerned about Armenia’s anti-defamation lawMay 20, 2022 - 17:51 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Marc Behrendt, the Director for Europe and Eurasia programs at Freedom House, has said that Armenia has made progress in democracy and human rights, but added that the organziation is concerned about legislation criminalizing defamation, Factor TV reports. Behrendt told a forum on Armenian democracy in Yerevan on Friday, May 20 that the new law could restrict freedom of expression in the country. He urged the government and the National Assembly to pay attention to criticism on the matter. The expert also assured that Freedom House will do their best to achieve positive changes in the fight against disinformation in Armenia Earlier too the organization slammed the new legislation as "controversial", which it said signifies a clear degradation of democratic norms in Armenia, including freedom of expression. Freedom House called on the Armenian authorities to immediately cease enforcement of the law. Top stories The number of state universities will be reduced from 23 to 8 by 2030, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan has said. From September 21 to November 11, a total of 2,820 Russians registered at a place of residence in Armenia, the police has said. The situation on the contact line between Karabakh and Azerbaijan was relatively stable overnight, the Defense Army says. Defense Minister Suren Papikyan has visited the southern Armenian province of Syunik, the Defense Ministry reported on March 18. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |