The state of human rights and political freedom in 2009 worsened in Armenia as compared to 2008, with Armenia assigned a score of six points out of seven (the worst) according to the annual report by Freedom House, a Washington-based international human rights watchdog.

Since 2002, Armenia, according to the report, is among the ‘partly free’ countries along with neighboring Georgia; as for Azerbaijan, it is considered to be ‘non-free’ during the recent few years.

According to the methodology of the report, six points goes to those countries where “systems are ruled by military juntas, one-party dictatorships, religious hierarchies, or autocrats. These regimes may allow only a minimal manifestation of political rights, such as some degree of representation or autonomy for minorities. A few states are traditional monarchies that mitigate their relative lack of political rights through the use of consultation with their subjects, tolerance of political discussion, and acceptance of public petitions.”

In its latest report Freedom House estimated the political and civic state, freedom of speech, and state of other rights in Armenia. The decline (the previous score was 5) in a 7-point scale is motivated mainly by the arrests relating to the March 1-2, 2008 events, and “disputable process and verdicts” of trials.

“Armenia’s political rights rating declined from 5 to 6 due to the inability of the opposition to successfully compete for political power in the 2008 presidential election, as well as the violent dispersal of opposition protesters and continued detention of more than 100 people arrested in the aftermath of the voting”, the report says.

The report also touches upon the issue of freedom of speech (mainly concerning TV company A1+), and it is strictly mentioned that corruption blossoms in the management system of Armenia.

Galust Sahakyan, member of governing Republican Party, considers this report to be a “recurrent nonsense.”

“You know, I am not even interested what international organizations write, because they have a certain purpose to make pressure upon this or that country,” Sahakyan told ArmeniaNow.