Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression: 42 cases of media rights  violations  recorded in Q2 2026

ArmInfo. In the second quarter of 2026, 42 cases of violations of the rights of journalists and mass media outlets were recorded. According to a report received by ArmInfo, this is stated in the Q2 2026 report by the Committee to  Protect Freedom of Expression.

As the report notes, the second quarter of 2026 proved to be a tense  period for journalists and media outlets due to the parliamentary  elections held on June 7. "Particularly during the pre-election  period, Armenia faced both external—primarily Russian—and domestic  information challenges. The most dangerous of these were hybrid  campaigns, accompanied by the spread of disinformation, fake news,  and manipulative narratives, including through a significant portion  of the Armenian media landscape. The extreme polarization of the  media and their financial dependence on various political forces  provided fertile ground for this. In effect, a situation has  developed where the public's right to receive reliable information is  being violated," the Committee stated.

According to the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, the  dangerous impact of large-scale disinformation has been mitigated to  a certain extent thanks to the ever-increasing number of  fact-checking platforms, as well as the high-quality work of some  media outlets. The Committee also noted that the polarization of the  Armenian media was also recorded by international observers  monitoring the parliamentary elections, in particular the OSCE/ODIHR  mission, which noted in its report that the media predominantly  disseminated rhetoric  contributing to social division.

"Overall, in the second quarter of 2026, 42 cases of violations of  the rights of journalists and media were recorded, of which 1 case  concerned physical violence; 30 cases involved various forms of  pressure; 11 cases involved violations of the right to receive and  disseminate information. Almost a quarter of these 42 cases occurred  during the election campaign and voting day of the parliamentary  elections on June 7. In particular, from May 8 to June 7, the  Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression recorded 10 cases of  various forms of pressure against journalists and other media  workers, including: 1 case of physical violence; 6 cases of insults  and/or threats; 3 cases of cyberattacks," the Committee reported.

The Committee also noted that of the 11 new lawsuits filed in the  second quarter against media representatives, five were related to  election campaign issues. "Of these five lawsuits, one was filed by a  government official; one by a business representative; and three by  opposition politicians. A total of 11 new lawsuits were filed during  the quarter, of which: three by opposition politicians; three by  citizens; one by a business representative; one by the media; and  three by high-ranking officials," the Committee clarified.

It is further noted that among the media outlets that are defendants  in lawsuits filed against journalists and editorial offices in  previous years and during the first six months of the current year  and are still pending in the courts, the largest number of cases are  against the Zhoghovurd newspaper (and the Armlur.am website) - 19  lawsuits, followed by the Oragir.news website and its editor-in-chief  Gevorg Emin-Teryan - 11 cases, as well as the Hayeli.am website and  its director Angela Tovmasyan - 8 cases.

"In the second quarter, the review of 10 lawsuits previously filed by  media outlets and journalists against officials and government  agencies continued. The defendants in these cases are: Yerevan Mayor  Tigran Avinyan; Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan; Foreign  Minister Ararat Mirzoyan; Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's wife, Anna  Hakobyan; Members of Parliament Artur Hovhannisyan and Gegham  Nazaryan; the parliamentary staff; and the Council of the Public  Broadcaster of Armenia," the Committee to Protect Freedom of  Expression noted.

At the same time, according to the source, the number of violations  of the right to receive and impart information has decreased since  the beginning of the year compared to previous monitoring periods. It  is noted that, although this figure was four cases higher in the  second quarter than in the previous quarter, it has decreased by 28  cases compared to the same period in 2025. "Thus, from April to June  2026, the Committee to Protect Freedom of Speech recorded 11 cases of  violations of the right to receive and impart information, of which:  4 cases involved requests that remained unanswered; 3 cases involved  untimely and incomplete responses; and 1 case involved an  unreasonable refusal to respond to a request. One of the most notable  events of the quarter was the Armenian government's initiative to  provide citizens with the opportunity to direct part of their social  credits to the media, as well as public organizations and political  parties. This initiative is currently undergoing public discussion,"  the Committee summarized.