Armenian lawyer says Judicial Council warning reflects 'authoritarian' climate

Armenian lawyer Yervand Varosyan criticized a recent statement by the country’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) urging attorneys to refrain from “defamatory or insulting comments” about judges, describing it as symptomatic of an increasingly restrictive political climate.

Varosyan said the statement likely stemmed from complaints by judges whose decisions had come under scrutiny.

“First, the judges whose rulings became the subject of discussion and whose names were made public were probably deeply offended,” he told Panorama.am on Saturday. “Most likely, they appealed to the SJC to take measures to halt the discussion. It suggests they understand that public scrutiny of their decisions is not in their favor.”

He said the move also reflects a broader pattern of discouraging dissent.

“Secondly, it fits into a general trend where everyone is expected either to remain silent or to praise the authorities,” Varosyan said. “This is typical of authoritarian regimes. I don’t think it should come as a surprise.”

Varosyan added that he did not know who drafted the SJC’s statement but described the published text as “the product of the imagination of the individual who wrote it.”

The lawyer also said he recently attended a hearing at the SJC and left disheartened.

“In the past, we harshly criticized judicial councils,” he said. “In this case, I did not even see anything to criticize. I did not see a need to reflect on the council itself or to make its actions a matter of discussion. The atmosphere was very heavy.”