Former MP Ruben Hakobyan faces hate speech charges

Authorities announced on Friday that former MP Ruben Hakobyan was arrested earlier in the day on charges related to inciting hatred, discrimination, and hostility.

The Investigative Committee said in a press release that Hakobyan allegedly “used information and communication technologies to make statements inciting and promoting hatred, discrimination, intolerance, and hostility.”

He is charged under Article 329(2)(3) of the Criminal Code (public speech aimed at inciting or promoting hatred, discrimination, intolerance, or hostility, as well as the distribution of materials or objects for that purpose), in three counts.

The former MP has been detained, and prosecutors have requested that the court impose administrative supervision rather than pre-trial detention.

Hakobyan was an ARF member and served as a lawmaker in the early 1990s and early 2000s, and later served as an MP for the Heritage party in the 2010s.