Armenian authorities decline to act on Gyumri Mayor Ghukasyan’s homophobic remarks

Armenian authorities have declined to initiate legal proceedings over a homophobic statement made by Gyumri’s newly elected mayor, Vardan Ghukasyan.

‘If the Armenian Church ever marries homosexuals like in Europe, I say it loudly, then I will shoot that priest in the church’, Ghukasyan said during a press briefing on 31 March. He further raised his hands, adding that he would surrender to the authorities ‘just like this’, by telling them ‘“take me, put me on trial” ’.

The statement was swiftly ‘strongly’ condemned by Right Side NGO, which supports trans people in Armenia, with the organisation expressing its ‘deep concern’ in a statement issued on 2 April.

They also noted that they had submitted a formal complaint to the Prosecutor General’s Office, calling for legal action in response to Ghukasyan’s ‘use of hate speech’. The civil rights group further stated that it had sent an official letter to the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, urging ‘a clear response and public condemnation of these dangerous statements’.

RFE/RL reported that another rights defender, Artur Sakunts, the head of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly-Vanadzor, also filed a complaint regarding Ghukasyan's statements made during the same briefing.

Despite the complaints, the Prosecutor General’s Office concluded that Ghukasyan’s statement ‘does not contain elements of a crime’ under the Armenian criminal code, citing hatred, discrimination, or intolerance in public speech.

RFE/RL quoted the office as stating that there is no real danger of carrying out the threat, because it was deemed to be vague and abstract.

The statement came a day after Armenia’s second-largest city Gyumri held its snap elections for City Council on 30 March. Ghukasyan did not gain a majority of the votes, but he received the votes of the other opposition factions and was appointed mayor on 16 April during the City Council’s first session.

During both the campaign and the post-election period, Ghukasyan made several homophobic statements, which were condemned by the Right Side NGO.

‘Ghukasyan’s ongoing targeting of the LGBTIQ community, his intolerance toward sexual and gender diversity [...] and his misogynistic rhetoric — such as stating that “women tempt men when they wear short skirts, and men can’t resist the temptation” — are not only discriminatory and degrading, but also promote violence, incite hatred, and deepen existing divisions in society’, the statement read.

The group emphasised that such remarks were ‘unacceptable’, especially in a country where issues such as discrimination, gender inequality, and hate toward ‘marginalised communities remain pressing human rights concerns and real threats to public safety and social cohesion’.

The civil rights group has already appealed the Prosecutor General’s decision, with the group's president, Lilit Martirosyan, vowing to take the case to the  European Court of Human Rights if they would be unable to achieve justice in Armenia.

Ghukasyan was the mayor of Gyumri from 1999–2012, and was a member of the formerly ruling Republican Party (2006–2017), during which time the city saw a rise in crimes involving either him or his family members.

From 2017–2019, he served as an MP representing the Prosperous Armenia party, while in the Gyumri elections, he was the nominee of the Communist Party.

Gyumri’s newly elected mayor says he supports a union state with Russia

Vardan Ghukasyan represents the Communist Party.

OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan