During the second quarter of 2026, 42 cases of violations of journalists' and media outlets' rights were recorded. Of these, 1 was physical violence, 30 were various other forms of pressure, and 11 were violations of the right to obtain and disseminate information. This was reported by the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression.

"Almost 1/4 of the above-mentioned 42 cases occurred during the campaign preceding the June 7 parliamentary elections and on the day of voting itself. Specifically, from May 8 to June 7, the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression recorded 10 cases of obstruction of the lawful professional activity of journalists and other media employees, of which 1 was in the form of physical violence, 6 involved insults or disrespectful treatment, and 3 were cyberattacks. During the same pre-election period, 5 out of the 11 new lawsuits accepted for proceedings in the second quarter overall were filed against journalists and media outlets, and these were related to campaign-related topics. Notably, of these 5 lawsuits, 1 was filed by a representative of the authorities, 1 by a business circle, and 3 by opposition political figures. In total, of the 11 new lawsuits filed during the quarter, 3 were filed by opposition political figures, 3 by citizens, 1 by a business sector representative, 1 by a media outlet, and 3 by officials (National Assembly President Alen Simonyan, Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, and Justice Minister Srbuhi Galyan). During the second quarter, 10 lawsuits filed by media outlets and journalists against officials and state bodies in previous periods also continued to be examined. Specifically, the defendants in these cases include Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan, National Assembly President Alen Simonyan, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, the Prime Minister's wife Anna Hakobyan, MPs Artur Hovhannisyan and Gegham Nazaryan, the National Assembly staff (2 cases), and the Council of the Public Broadcaster (2 cases).

One of the distinguishing features of the quarter under review is that the election-related situation in the media field became extremely heated, and throughout this entire period Armenia faced external (mainly Russian) and internal informational challenges, the most dangerous of which were hybrid influence campaigns. In essence, the information intervention carried out from abroad received support from a significant portion of the media field operating within the country, which clearly served the Kremlin's interests and goals — actively spreading disinformation, fake news, and manipulative narratives both in their own materials and when presenting the propaganda of pro-Russian political forces. In this pre-election struggle, AI-generated fake identities, misleading sociological data, and 'leaks' from special services were used, flooding the Armenian media space.

The extreme polarization of the media field, the close entanglement of the overwhelming majority of media outlets with various political forces, and their serving of these forces' interests create a favorable environment for external informational influence, which was clearly evident during these elections, and the problem remains a serious challenge for the future as well. This is a situation in which the public's right to receive accurate information is being violated," the Committee's statement said.