Ombudsman's Authority Should Be Understood as per the Constitution and the Law on Ombudsman: Tatoyan

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, made a post on his Facebook page where he specifically stated that, considering the speculations regarding the authority of the Ombudsman, he finds it necessary to provide a special clarification:

“1) If someone, who does not hold any position or is not vested with state-authoritative powers, threatens another specific official or non-official individual or commits violence against them, it is not the authority of the Human Rights Defender to hold the threatening or violent individual criminally or otherwise liable, to initiate criminal prosecution against them, to arrest or detain them, or to legally qualify the actions of citizens for the purpose of holding them accountable. For such matters, there exist law enforcement bodies and courts in both our and any other state. This means these issues fall under the jurisdiction of, for example, the Police, investigative bodies, the Prosecutor's Office, or the courts. The Human Rights Defender cannot perform their duties.

However, it is another question why the speculators do not approach these bodies or what those bodies are engaged in, if grounds related to their authority have arisen. The authority of the Human Rights Defender comes into play when, for instance, in a specific case (let's say, someone has threatened another person publicly or privately or has committed violence), the relations between citizen and citizen shift to state and citizen or citizen and state level, for example, when a citizen complains that law enforcement agencies are not properly investigating the case regarding threats made against them or are allowing violations or are completely refusing to investigate.

2) Since it is also the function of the Human Rights Defender to improve the system of human rights in the country and to promote an atmosphere of solidarity, the Defender addresses all controversial issues regarding human rights at the systemic and institutional level, without providing legal assessments of specific actions of private individuals, and this is always done to exclude any possible violation of the law. For instance, this statement includes a detailed reference to insults and hatred in light of yesterday’s mass events. Therefore, I urge you to thoroughly study the legal rules pertaining to law enforcement authorities and courts, our country's Constitution, as well as the constitutional law on the 'Human Rights Defender' and Armenia's international agreements,” Tatoyan wrote and added that he would elaborate on the other aspects of the speculations throughout the day.