More attacks and violence against journalists reported in Armenia

YEREVAN, April 23. /ARKA/. The number of attacks and violence against journalists and mass media outlets has increased in Armenia, according to Ashot Melikyan, chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, who presented today a report on the situation with freedom of speech and the rights of journalists and mass media in Armenia in the first quarter of 2021.

"In the first quarter of this year, there were extremely tense and unfavorable conditions for journalists. The post-war period, tension, divisions in society and polarization in the mass media - all this could not be conducive to creating a favorable environment for them," he said.
According to Melikyan, in the first quarter of 2021 there were 7 reported cases of physical violence against journalists involving 8 people. For comparison, in the same period of 2019, there were 2 similar cases, and 6 cases during the entire 2020.

He said most of the incidents of violence this year occurred during rallies and protests, when journalists suffered from the police and protesters. Also, cases of violence against journalists were reported in the parliament.

Melikyan said that apart from incidents of physical violence, 20 cases of various types of pressure on journalists were reported, including threats, obstruction of their professional activity, insults and humiliation.

Melikyan said also that 15 cases of violation of the right to receive and disseminate information were reported in the first quarter of 2021, which is less than last year's figure, but the mass media and journalists continue to complain about government agencies.

"The main problem is that their responses journalists' requests are being unreasonably delayed. The Law On Freedom of Information provides for 5 days to provide a response, but at the same time it allows state agencies to set a 30-day deadline due to the need of additional work to provide the required information. He said very often government agencies require 30 days when it is obvious that 1 or 2 days are quite enough for it.

He stressed that in 2 out of 15 cases, the mass media outlets went to court to protect their rights. According to Melikyan, in the first quarter of 2021, 12 new lawsuits were filed against journalists and the mass media, including 10 lawsuits involving insult and defamation.

"The number of court cases has also decreased. It is worrisome that most of the cases are related to insults and defamation, 6 of which are from current and former officials and those associated with them," he said.

On the other hand, he said, disinformation, fake news, insults and slander continue to spread widely in the Armenian media space.

"It has become a kind of political struggle. The overwhelming number of media outlets are part of the political system, and often as a result of manipulation, the spread of false news and hate speech, the number of court cases increases," he said.

Melikyan also stated that the authorities, responding to the situation, came up with a number of legislative initiatives, which are interconnected and mostly of a repressive nature.

"It is clear that there are problems, but the approaches that are used in these legislative initiatives, in our assessment, are disproportionate restrictions on freedom of speech and do not meet international criteria," he said.
The recently amended law on Civil Code provides for a hefty rise in fines that may be imposed for insults and defamation.

The amendments had been drafted in 2020 by Deputy Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan from the ruling My Step bloc, who argued that they were important for protecting the honor and dignity of a person from slander and insults, and would also allow citizens to receive more reliable information.

Initially, Simonyan suggested raising the fines to 5-10 million drams, but before the second and final reading the thresholds were slightly lowered to thee million drams for insult and six million for defamation. -0-