INFORMATIVE BLOCKADE OF HERITAGE STILL CONTINUES

A1+
[06:16 pm] 19 March, 2007

The press service of the "Heritage" Party has spread the following
announcement today; "Two RA TV Channels (Kentron and H2) invited
"Raffi Hovannisian to participate in the political programs "Urvagits"
and "The Fourth Studio". The most striking is the fact that we got
invitations after 1, 5 years’ informative blockade and just the moment
Raffi Hovannisian was out of the country. To note, the press secretary
of the party informed the press about Mr. Hovannisian’s absence on
the eve.

In case the attention is not "formal", the above-mentioned TV Channels
will have a chance to host Raffi Hovannisian one of these day after
his arrival.

This implies that the presidential pressure over the national TV
Channels has weakened.

But the fact that Raffi Hovannisian and other leaders of the party
are currently denied airtime broadcast (all the leaders of the party
are in Armenia) already gives cause for doubts.

As for NA Speaker Tigran Torosyan’s announcement that Raffi
Hovannisian’s frequent absences deprive him of broadcasting chance,
it is due to mention that most of the RA high-ranking officials,
including the reverend NA Speaker, go abroad more frequently but it
doesn’t hinder RA TV channels to cover their activity for hours.

Secondly, Raffi Hovannisian doesn’t leave Armenia that much; this is
disinformation spread by the NA Speaker.

And finally, the visits are aimed at introducing Armenia in many
important forums among them Wilton Park and the April conference
of Brussels.

We find the announcement of Tigran Torosyan, who is well aware of
Raffi Hovannisian’s whereabouts, indecent and unfair taking into
account the illegal informative blockade of the "Heritage" Party.