David Harutyunyan accused Freedom House of bias and extreme  engagement

ArmInfo.Freedom House, undoubtedly, the organization is quite authoritative. Nevertheless, not all of her reports shine with objectivity. This was stated by the  Minister of Justice David Atutiunian during the briefing for journalists on April 12, referring to the report of a human rights organization published on the eve of the report, in which Armenia is called a country slipping into authoritarianism.

According to the Minister, for the first time in the report of this  organization he meets ideas, radically different from the adopted  methodology. "When examining the report in detail, it is surprising  to find contradictory provisions, for example, the report says that  if Serzh Sargsyan is nominated as prime minister, this leads to  authoritarianism," Harutyunyan said, adding that the organization at  the same time predicts that if Sargsyan does not come forward, he  will rule the country as a "gray cardinal".

David Harutyunyan is also surprised by another fact - having touched  upon the theme of the group "Sasna Tsrer", the report does not say  anywhere that the group committed an armed attack. The minister also  did not meet with such a document in which "labels are labeled  politicians". "Criticism is, yes, but never - no gluing of labels,"  he said.

Thus, as David Harutyunyan emphasized, he regretfully should note  that for the first time in his report Freedom House deviated from the  classical methodology adopted by the organization. "I admit that  international structures can be to some extent biased, but not to the  same degree, thereby completely devaluing the report," the Armenian  Minister of Justice concluded.

On April 11, the human rights organization Freedom House published  another report measuring the level of freedom in different countries  of the "Transitional Countries 2018", in which she called Armenia a  country "moving in a negative direction" towards authoritarianism.  Thus, according to the report, Armenia regressed on the indicators of  democracy and corruption "because of the deepening of systemic  corruption as a result of the concentration of the executive,  legislative and judicial authorities in the hands of the ruling  Republican Party and the government's unwillingness to eradicate  high-level abuses." Unlike previous reports, this time the possible  extension of Serzh Sargsyan's management deserved special attention.  For example, Armenia is one of the countries where the main political  figure manages either from behind the scenes or has unwritten  authorities that significantly exceed the powers conferred upon him  by law.  Moreover, the organization states that for the ten-year  presidency of Serzh Sargsyan the index of democratization of Armenia  has decreased. Analyzing last year's events, the authoritative  organization notes that Armenia has not made progress either in  providing transparent elections, in the fields of justice, freedom of  the press or human rights. The worst result was recorded in the  spheres of democratic governance and electoral processes. According  to the research, the stability and independence of the governance  system in Armenia, the balance between the legislative and executive  bodies has been decreasing since 2008. Over the past decade, from  year to year, the evaluation of electoral processes and the process  of formation of a multiparty system also declined. The most  satisfactory situation is observed in the field of civil society, but  here since 2008 the situation has not improved, but deteriorated.  Freedom House is an independent non-governmental organization based  in the United States, which for more than 75 years around the world  has been fighting for human rights and democracy. The organization's  ratings are highly trusted in the West. It is on the basis of these  assessments, for example, that the American Millennium Challenge  Corporation decides to provide financial assistance to countries that  need it, while taking into account the commitment of these countries  to the principles of democracy and the rule of law.