The Armenian National Assembly (NA) restricts the entry of media outlets and journalists to the parliament, Media Advocate initiative said in a statement on Friday.
Below is the full text of the statement.
"Recently, an incident occurred between Yerevan.today news agency journalist Syuzy Badoyan and MP Hayk Sargsyan. The latter pulled Suzy Badoyan’s hand first, then, took the journalist’s microphone away and closed in his office. After that incident, Media Advocate initiative urged the My Step parliamentary fraction to reconsider the behavior of its deputies bringing them to order and excluding such incidents.
The My Step fraction, in its turn, not only did not take any measure, but a few days later it became clear that the staff of the National Assembly is engaged in hairsplitting: it ignores the misconduct of the deputy and tries to deprive the journalist Syuzy Badoyan of the NA accreditation.
In a conversation with Media Advocate initiative, Syuzy Badoyan noted that the parliament's staff offered to replace her with another journalist, after which the editorial office refused, insisting that they are the ones who decide their working policy.
In fact, the NA staff, not realizing that it has no right to interfere in the working and editorial policy of the news outlet, tries to abuse its powers.
Media Advocate initiative demands from the NA staff to stay within the framework of the law, not to restrict the journalist’s work.
This publication will be passed to international human rights organizations, embassies, as well as the Armenian Ombudsman’s Office."