YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
JUNE 19-25, 2009
HIGHLIGHTS:
NEW PACE RESOLUTION: SWITCHING TO DIGITAL BROADCASTING SHOULD NOT DISTURB
THE HOLDING OF LICENSING COMPETITION
CHIEF EDITOR OF "ZHAMANAK" DETAINED FOR ALREADY THREE YEARS
ONE OF THE ASSAULTERS OF EDIK BAGHDASARIAN SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS OF
IMPRISONMENT
NEW PACE RESOLUTION: SWITCHING TO DIGITAL BROADCASTING SHOULD NOT DISTURB
THE HOLDING OF LICENSING COMPETITION
On June 24 at the plenary summer session of Parliamentary Assembly of
Council of Europe the Resolution 1677 (2009) "The Functioning of Democratic
Institutions in Armenia" was approved. Points 11 and 12 of the document deal
with the media sphere.
By Point 11 of Resolution 1677 (2009) PACE welcomes the adoption, on April
28, 2009, of amendments to the RA Law "On Television and Radio", "which were
elaborated in close consultation with the Council of Europe and are aimed at
ensuring the independence of the media regulatory bodies in Armenia". With
regard to these amendments, the Subpoint 11.1 notes that "the appointment
procedure for the members appointed by the President of Armenia on the
National Television and Radio Commission and the Public Television and Radio
Council is not regulated by law", and recommends that the President issue an
order "to establish an appointment procedure that mirrors the procedure
applied for the appointments by the National Assembly". Notably, the
Assembly considers that "despite the positive changes to the law, these
bodies cannot be held fully independent until such time as all members are
appointed through a politically neutral procedure". In Subpoint 11.2 PACE
reaffirms its position expressed in Resolution 1609 (2008): the composition
of both broadcast regulatory bodies "should reflect the Armenian society".
The Subpoint 11.3 recommends that "serving politicians be barred from being
members" of regulatory bodies.
Point 12 of Resolution 1677 (2009) refers to "the holding of an open, fair
and transparent tender for broadcasting licenses". Presently, says the
Resolution, discussions between the Armenian authorities and the Council of
Europe are held on a basis of a report prepared by an independent CoE
spectrum analyst. PACE reaffirms the earlier expressed position: "The
technical implications of the introduction of digital broadcasting in
Armenia should not be used to delay unduly the holding of such a tender and
thus the execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in
the case concerning the denial of a broadcasting license to the television
channel ‘A1+’".
It should be noted that PACE Resolution 1677 (2009) was adopted on the basis
of the report "The Functioning of Democratic Institutions in Armenia",
prepared by the Monitoring Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and
Commitments by Member-State of Council of Europe (co-rapporteurs – Georges
Colombier and John Prescott). The report was endorsed at the session of the
Monitoring Committee on June 22, 2009.
In the Explanatory Memorandum of the document, in "Media Reform" section the
co-rapporteurs, particularly, refer to the amendment to the RA Law "On
Television and Radio", adopted (by an accelerated procedure) on September
10, 2008 by the RA National Assembly. It suspends the holding of broadcast
licensing competitions till July 2010. "This amendment was strongly
criticised by the opposition in Armenia", the Monitoring Committee report
stresses.
In view of the aforesaid citation it is worth to emphasize that the
situation around the moratorium on licensing competitions presented by the
co-rapporteurs is not quite sufficient. "This amendment was strongly
criticized" hardly by the opposition only, but, first of all, by the
journalistic associations of Armenia and the international organizations.
Thus, the statement of five professional organizations, including Yerevan
Press Club, qualified the amendment as yet another prove of that the
governmental initiatives in media domain "are aimed not at ensuring the
constitutional right to free receipt and dissemination of information, not
at the improvement of the domain, not at the implementation of the
commitments to the Council of Europe and recommendations of PACE
resolutions, but at retaining and strengthening the total control over
broadcasters, currently practiced". The OSCE Representative on Freedom of
the Media Miklos Haraszti, calling upon the Armenian authorities to review
the addition to the broadcast Law, pointed out, in particular: "By cutting
off any potential applicant broadcasters from entering the market until
2010, the limited pluralism in Armenia’s broadcasting sector will be further
diminished." Yet, according to Global Campaign for Free Expression "Article
19", the adopted amendments are directed against "A1+" TV company, contrary
to the decision of European Court of Human Rights regarding the case of
"A1+", as well as contradicted to Article 19 of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 10 of the European Convention on
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom – both conventions are ratified by
Armenia and guarantee freedom of expression (see details in YPC Weekly
Newsletter, September 5-11, 2008, September 26 – October 2, 2008, and
October 3-9, 2008).
Besides, in the draft of the Resolution, presented in the same report of the
Monitoring Committee, the provision that the composition of the regulatory
bodies (National Commission on Television and Radio, and the Council of the
Public Television and Radio) should reflect the Armenian society was
supplemented with a following recommendation: the Assembly "therefore calls
upon the National Assembly to consider further amendments to that effect".
Yet the text of Resolution 1677 (2009) approved by PACE does not include
this recommendation (see the abovementioned Subpoint 11.2). A question
rises, how will the provision of the Resolution be implemented, if the REAL
mechanisms to improve the level of independence of the regulatory bodies
still remain absent in the broadcast legislation?! Moreover, the recently
amended legislation does not solve any of the serious problems of the
broadcast sphere, raised by the journalistic community of the country, as
well as by the international organizations for years. The withdrawal of the
provision on the necessity of introducing further amendments to the
broadcast legislation from Resolution 1677 (2009) endorses the assumption of
Yerevan Press Club: the amendments of April 28, 2009 were the final chord of
the 12-year epic on forming the broadcast legislation in Armenia. "The
practice of total control exercised by the power structures over the
broadcast sphere received the complete legislative backing they wished so
much, with the blessing of the Council of Europe experts and the
parliamentary opposition" (cited from the piece "The Unaccomplished Reform
or Strasbourg Is Happy with Us", published in YPC Weekly Newsletter of June
12-18, 2009).
CHIEF EDITOR OF "ZHAMANAK" DETAINED FOR ALREADY THREE YEARS
On June 24 the heads of "Haykakan Zhamanak", "Aravot", ‘Taregir", "168
Zham", "Hayk" newspapers, "A1+" TV company, "Lragir.am" online publication,
the editorial office of "Zhamanak" daily released a statement in support of
Chief Editor of "Zhamanak" Arman Babajanian, sentenced to 3.5 years of
imprisonment for document fraud to avoid compulsory military service. The
statement emphasizes that on June 26 it will be three years since the arrest
of Arman Babajanian. As it has been reported, during his detention the Chief
Editor of "Zhamanak" has submitted four petitions on early release and none
of them has been secured, notwithstanding the calls of professional and
international organizations (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, March 27 – April 2,
2009). On June 26 a protest action is planned to be held near the residence
of the RA President due to the three-year detention of Arman Babajanian.
ONE OF THE ASSAULTERS OF EDIK BAGHDASARIAN SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS OF
IMPRISONMENT
On June 23 court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash
communities of Yerevan finished the hearings on the case of assault on the
Head of "Investigative Journalists" NGO Edik Baghdasarian. As it has been
reported, on November 17, 2008, Edik Baghdasarian was assaulted by three
strangers when having left the building, where the "Investigative
Journalists" office is located, he headed towards his car. The offenders
started beating the journalist, struck him with a stone on his head. Edik
Baghdasarian was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with brain concussion.
Kentron Police Department of Yerevan instituted criminal proceedings on the
incident. The charge on Article 258 of RA Criminal Code ("Public disorder")
was brought with Karen Harutiunian, who appeared in court as one of the
assaulters of Edik Baghdasarian. The court hearings started on June 4. In
the piece about the beginning of litigation, published on June 4, 2009 in
"Hetq", online-publication of "Investigative Journalists", was emphasized:
"The law enforcement bodies, however, did not reveal the other two with whom
20 years old Karen Harutiunian made the attack (…), and the client of this
crime. K.Harutiunian not only denied his involvement in the incident but
refused to give evidence, either. Nevertheless, the investigation took the
charges pressed against him for granted (…)." During the court hearings
Karen Harutiunian did not plead guilty, either (see YPC Weekly Newsletter,
June 5-11, 2009).
At the session of June 23 the court sentenced Karen Harutiunian to 5 years
of imprisonment.
When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.
You are welcome to send any comment and feedback about the Newsletter to:
[email protected]
Subscription for the Newsletter is free. To subscribe or unsubscribe from
this mailing list, please send a message to: [email protected]
Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
_____________________________________ _______
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
0002, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 10) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site:
www.ypc.am