On March 31, 2025, Vardan Ghukasyan, then-candidate of the community head of Gyumri, during a live broadcast, announced that he would kill a priest in church if the priest were to marry LGBT+ persons. The broadcast was full of hatred, intolerance, and incitement to hostility. On April 1, 2025, HCA Vanadzor filed a report with the General Prosecutor’s office of the RA, claiming to initiate criminal proceedings based on the apparent elements of a crime.
In response to the Organization’s report, the Department for the Investigation of Crimes Against State and Public Security of the Investigative Committee of Armenia decided not to initiate proceedings. On April 23, that decision was appealed to the General Prosecutor’s office of the RA. On April 25, the General Prosecutor’s office of the RA rejected the submitted complaint. Having exhausted the possibility of initiating criminal proceedings based on the apparent elements of a crime through the prosecutorial appeal procedure, the Organization applied to the General Jurisdiction Court of First Instance of the RA Shirak Region on May 29.
According to the Criminal Code of the RA, the state is required to establish criminal liability for propagating hatred, discrimination, and intolerance. Thus, the Republic of Armenia, bound by its positive obligations, is obliged to ensure through its domestic legislation that every person’s right to self-determination is protected and that no one is subjected to discriminatory or intolerant treatment, particularly when such conduct comes from a public official.
In its complaint submitted to the Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction of Shirak region, the Organization requested to obligate the General Prosecutor’s office of the RA and the investigator who didn’t initiate proceedings to initiate criminal proceedings based on the apparent elements of a crime, and to ensure a proper, thorough, and impartial investigation.
