YEREVAN. – The President of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian, has not signed the National Assembly-adopted law on amendments the Civil Code, and has petitioned to the Constitutional Court to determine the constitutionality of this law. Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned about this from the President's Office.

As per the respective presidential statement, this law provides for considerably increasing the amount of monetary compensation for insult and defamation. Moreover, the aforesaid amendment applies to the mass media as well.

The President attaches great importance to the freedom of speech and opinion and is concerned that, on the one hand, the envisaged amendments do not solve any systemic problem in the media, and on the other hand, the proposed regulations may considerably undermine freedom of speech and expression, and considerably curtail the freedom of the journalist and the media to objectively criticize events and phenomena

As per the statement, in a democratic society, any restriction on freedom of expression must be justified and proportionate, the compensation must be commensurate with the country's socioeconomic situation, and the application of compensation must not adversely affect freedom of expression and the discussion of public issues.

According to the presidential statement, the aforesaid law is seemingly problematic from a constitutional point of view.

Taking into account the abovementioned, the President has not signed this law, and has petitioned to the Constitutional Court to determine its constitutionality.