"GREEN LIGHT TO THOSE WHO OPPRESS FREEDOM OF SPEECH"

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[06:10 pm] 25 September, 2006

"They have given a green light to those who oppress freedom of speech",
said David Sandukhchyan, lawyer of NGO "Internews" on the basis of
the investigations carried out by their organization. According to
him, during the previous years there was only one example to scare
the journalists – the fact of banning "A1+" from air. And now there
are numerous examples.

There have been 12 cases of hindering the professional activity of the
journalists in late 2005 and early 2006. It is three times more than
in 2004. By the way, the law enforcers did not try to find and punish
those who are guilty. Moreover, the Mass Media themselves did not turn
to the police. According to David Sandukhchyan, it is accounted for
by the fact that "the Mass Media greatly depend upon the authorities".

According to Avetiq Ishkhanyan, head of the Armenian Helsinki
Committee, the authorities accept the majority of the journalists as
enemies. A manifestation of the discrimination was that in connection
with the 15th anniversary of Independence Robert Kocharyan awarded
medals only to several representatives of pro-governmental Mass Media.

According to Ishkhanyan, it is meaningless to expect the authorities to
demonstrate strong will when it comes to the defense of human rights,
as "If they had political will, they would resign, but will they?".

According to him, the only way to have success in this field is to
activate the society.