The Human Rights Defender of Armenia (Ombudsman) presented an Ad-hoc Public Report on the restrictions on activities of mass media and journalists on Wednesday, July 7, saying that last year the number of those restrictions was 18.
“If we yearn for democracy as a political regime, then we should know that its ‘soul’ is the Constitution, as a legal regime; and freedom of expression completes that legal regime,” says Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan, adding, that the (this) 10th Ad-hoc Public Report ‘Right to Freedom of Expression in the Republic of Armenia’, has no connection with United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Armenia.
The report consists of five spheres that were subject to restrictions during recent years, such as examination of the RA legislation; international standards of freedom of expression; violations of the rights of journalists in Armenia; restriction of freedom of expression in press; and the current situation of freedom of expression in TV and Radio broadcasting.
“Rights of the press are being restricted when cases of violence and threats are being registered; artificial obstacles are created by companies serving some dailies; for example, when print newspapers do not reach kiosks, or when the whole circulation is bought to make the daily unavailable,” Harutyunyan says, adding that Armenian human rights experts will meet with him on Friday to discuss this Report.
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