Armenia-Council of Europe cooperation discussed at Public Prosecutor's Office

The acting head of the Council of Europe (CoE) Office in Yerevan on Friday visited the Prosecutor General's Office to discuss the ongoing programs and future cooperation opportunities and the mission's assistance in the current reforms.

Maxime Longangue met with Gevorg Baghdasaryan, a deputy prosecutor general, who appreciated the joint activities with the mission, emphasizing the high efficiency of the programs in the field of fight against crimes.

Stressing the importance of the steps towards the improvement of mechanisms to combat corruption, Baghdasaryan highlighted the recently adopted law "On the Confiscation of Illegal Property" as a vital instrument to such efforts.

He also appreciated the serious contribution by CoE experts to the recently initiated amendments to the Criminal, and Criminal Procedure Codes, stressing also the need of future training activities to ensure their implementation after enactment.

The European official expressed the mission's commitment to assist in the realization of the reforms and engage in the future activities as part of the ongoing programs.

Addressing separately the fight against discrimination and hate speech, the sides also had a comprehensive discussion over the proposed legislative reforms aimed at criminalizing the defamation of officials. Both the deputy prosecutor general and the European official agreed that the tools of fight against hate speech "should not be restrictive instruments" against freedom of speech, and criticism.

Baghdasaryan affirmed that the proposed idea and the consequent legislative reforms are not aimed at either fighting criticism or targeting officials "but rather propose specific mechanisms to facilitate the exercise of their functions and protect the reputation of the state, and public administration bodies".

According to an offiicial press release summing up the meeting, the sides agreed to continue and step up the cooperation to achieve an effective solution to the problems discussed.