YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: In recent months, the dissatisfaction of the Western authorities and international organizations with the conduct of the RA authorities is clearly growing.

We learned that in recent times, the US ambassador is having meetings with various circles, including the civil society, the opposition [of Armenia], and is not hiding their dissatisfaction with everything that is happening in Armenia. She says almost straightforwardly that Armenia is recording a serious regression in the field of human rights and democracy.

And the concerns are in several directions. First of all, on the issues related to the freedom of speech. The US authorities are puzzled that defamation and insult have been criminalized at us, and the amount of [respective] fines has been increased. They see a problem with the [relevant] bill authored by [parliament speaker] Alen Simonyan.

The next direction is that the law on confiscation of illegal property is being arbitrarily applied—only to the targets of the authorities.

The other [concern] refers to the enlargement of [Armenia’s] communities, which, in the American view, also corresponds to the palate of the authorities.

Finally, the American government is concerned about the political prosecution being carried out against political opponents.