Government move to cut funding for Ombudsman's Office 'pressure' against key human rights institution - Larisa Alaverdyan

Armenia's first human rights defender on Friday criticised the government move to cut the funding for the Ombudsman's Office, condemning the recently adopted decision as a "tool of pressure" serving the current authorities' whims.

"They are exerting pressure upon the Human Rights Defender who, without abusing his responsibilities and authority, addresses the mass violations of human rights in Azerbaijan. But the authorities and the responsible institutions are silent on that," Larisa Alaverdyan told a news conference.

The restricted funding stems from a March 11 government decision declaring Section 4, Article 8 of the law "On the Human Rights Defender" null and void. Under the said legislative provision, the intended allocations for the funding of national prevention mechanisms "could not be less compared to the previous year's budgetary allocations".