May 3, 2026
In recent years in Armenia, the current political leadership has given indulgence to the outrageous behavior of high-ranking officials and members of parliament with the mass media and individual journalists. Satik Seyranyan, President of the Union of Journalists of Armenia, said at the “Voices of Armenia” conference called today on the occasion of Press Freedom Day.
He informed that only in 2025 During this period, 37 lawsuits were filed against more than 17 media outlets, in addition to denying the information considered insulting or slanderous, a huge monetary demand was also presented to the media outlets.
“In those cases, 17 media outlets are demanding more than 66 million 700 thousand drams in compensation, which does not include court costs,” said the president of the Union of Journalists of Armenia.
According to Seyranyan, many cases were recorded when officials personally or through their bodyguards used violence against journalists, a number of journalists were illegally prohibited from covering the work of state institutions, by arbitrary decisions of officials, terminating their accreditation.
The President of the Armenian Communist Party is sure that all this is a consistent campaign conducted by the authorities, because the political power, which is becoming more authoritarian day by day, actually not having any viable counterbalance and restraining mechanism, feels a threat only from the press. According to him, it is often thanks to the work of journalists that the public learns about the outrageous actions, illegalities and permissiveness of the authorities. According to Seyranyan, the press has become the class enemy of the current government.
Seyranyan added that similar actions of the authorities often do not receive any opposition from relevant international organizations.
Tomorrow, on May 4, the inaugural Armenia-EU summit will start in Yerevan, which is another opportunity to speak in front of the European delegations about democracy, civil liberties and all the values that are the basis of the European civilized system in our country.
“Although there have always been problems in the field of freedom of press and speech in Armenia, no place and no authority likes the media and journalists, but especially in the last 8 years, the media in Armenia, a large number of individual journalists are subjected to consistent, systematic attacks organized by the authorities,” Seyranyan said.
According to him, in recent years, the media and individual journalists have been subjected to various pressures and persecutions, from fabricated criminal cases and physical threats to social network attacks, moral and psychological terror, restrictions on personal and speech freedom, to lawsuits against the media and journalists with the consequences of heavy financial obligations.
“From the hate speech generated by the ruling power and its satellite, on mushroom websites, to public insults and targeted insults, from discriminatory treatment to threats directed at members of journalists’ families, even minor children, from the use of violence on live broadcasts to other manifestations of obstructing the journalist’s work, violent arrests, searches, confiscation of property, control and guidance of advertisers,” Seyranyan noted.
According to the “Reporters without Borders” organization, in 2026 report, the Armenian media scene remains extremely polarized, and journalists become targets of hate speech and political pressure.
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