On January 7, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued its judgment in the case of Minasyan and Others v. Armenia, recognizing violations of fundamental human rights by Armenia.
This case concerns the article “They serve the interests of international homosexual lobbying: The blacklist of enemies of state and nation” and other similar articles, published by “Iravunk” newspaper on 17.05.2014, presenting a blacklist of a group of people, who are accused in “homoaddicted lobbying” and calls everyone to express zero tolerance towards them and to restrict their opportunities in every possible field of their activity.
The reason of the article was the interview given by the representatives of Armenia in the “Eurovision 2014” Inga and Anush Arshakyans, during which the lastones, expressing their attitude towards LGBT+ poeple, particularly towards the trans representative of Austria in the abovementioned competition Conchita Wurst, mentioned: “like the mental patient causes repulsion, so does this phenomena.’’.
The publications in question included personal data of targeted individuals, accompanied by calls for discrimination and incitement to intolerance.
The 14 applicants, having failed to find effective legal remedies in Armenian courts, appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.
The Court found that Armenia violated the applicants’ right to respect for private and family life, combined with the absolute right to be free from discrimination. The Court emphasized that the constitutional prohibition of discrimination and the Civil Code’s prohibition of insult are insufficient to protect individuals from homophobic hate speech. According to the Court, the severe harm caused to the mental integrity, dignity, and honor of the individuals targeted by the publications cannot be adequately addressed through civil legislation. Moreover, the state failed to demonstrate that these legal provisions are effectively applied in practice.
Thus, the state is obligated to take measures to ensure the existence of effective mechanisms to protect individuals from hate speech, including incitement to discrimination.
“Pink” Human Rights Defender NGO welcomes the observations of the European Court and will get engaged in the monitoring of implementation of the judgment.
