Thirty-seven lawsuits have been filed against seventeen media outlets in Armenia so far this year.

In addition to refuting information considered libelous or slanderous, plaintiffs have demanded monetary compensation totaling AMD 66.7 million ($174,100).

According to the Datalex information portal, Armenian National Assembly President Alen Simonyan filed four lawsuits against media outlets and journalists, demanding they publish retractions and pay him AMD 3.4 million.

Armenian government chiefs of staff Arayik Harutyunyan and Armen Pambukhchyan have each filed AMD 3 million lawsuits against two media outlets.

 Knar Manukyan, editor-in-chief of the Zhoghovurd, a daily newspaper that has been sued the most, told Hetq that lawsuits against the newspaper have been filed mainly by officials or businesspeople she claims serve the interests of the government.

Manukyan says the AMD 21 million lawsuits the paper has been hit with are designed to silence, constrain, and limit the media outlet’s activities and revelations.

“We will win most of the cases because we have conscientiously fulfilled our professional duties and there will be no alternative to victories. We are simply operating under psychological and financial pressure,” Manukyan says.

The Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression (CPFE) regularly presents its reports to the public on the state of freedom of expression and violations of the rights of the media and journalists in Armenia.

During the first half of this year, sixteen new lawsuits were filed against media outlets and journalists in Armenia, three more than in the same period last year. All lawsuits are based on insult and defamation charges. The plaintiffs in six cases are representatives of the business sector, in three - current and former officials, in two - politicians, in two - representatives of the healthcare sector, in two - citizens/individuals, and in one - a lawyer.

Reporters Without Borders, in its May 2025 report on the state of freedom of expression in Armenia, noted that country’s legal framework regulating the media sector does not sufficiently protect press freedom and does not meet European standards.

The CPFE, in its report covering the first half of 2025, noted that the legislation regulating the activities of the media in Armenia is dated and needs updating to adequately respond to modern challenges. This also applies to liability for insult and defamation in media publications and online.

Of note is that in Armenia there is no legislative regulation that requires the parties to resolve disputes out of court before going to court.

Given that parliamentary elections in Armenia are scheduled for 2026, it’s safe to assume that the number of lawsuits filed against the media outlets will increase.