Reuters AlertNet, UK
June 30 2007

Armenia: Parliament Must Not Silence RFE/RL

30 Jun 2007 00:58:32 GMT
Source: Human Rights Watch

(New York, June 29, 2007) ? The Armenian parliament should not adopt
two draft laws that would effectively ban future broadcasts of Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a key source of independent
information in that country, Human Rights Watch said today. The
first, an amendment to the law "On Television and Radio" prohibits
retransmission of foreign broadcasts on Armenian Public Television
and Radio frequencies. The second, an amendment to the law "On State
Taxes" establishes heavy fees for private companies that air foreign
broadcasts. Both draft laws passed a first reading on Friday in the
National Assembly of Armenia, but must undergo a second reading,
expected on Monday or Tuesday, before they become law.

"These new laws clearly restrict access to a crucial independent news
source for many Armenians and deal a serious blow to RFE/RL and to
freedom of the media in general," said Holly Cartner, Europe and
Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The parliament should
under no circumstances pass this bill in the second reading."

The parliament’s actions appear to specifically target RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service, the only foreign broadcaster that relies on
Armenian National Radio, the country’s public radio station, to reach
the majority of its audience. RFE/RL is one of the only independent
broadcast media outlets remaining in Armenia. Although there is a
vibrant print media, the government maintains close control over the
much more accessible broadcast media, and recently closed the last
independent television station, A1+, in 2002.

RFE/RL is also occasionally broadcast via some private radio stations
in the country’s capital, Yerevan, and surrounding regions, but under
the under the proposed laws, private Armenian broadcasters would pay
more than US$200 in taxes each time they retransmit a program
produced by a foreign media organization. This fee is 70 times more
than broadcasters must pay for a locally made program.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE)
representative on freedom of the media, Miklos Haraszti, criticized
the bills, saying that they infringed Armenia’s commitments to
safeguard media pluralism and access to information, and called on
the Armenian authorities to drop them. Opposition politicians in
Armenia lamented the parliament’s decision to pass the bills and
charged the government with trying to control the media.

The two bills are incompatible with Armenia’s obligations under the
European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Article 10 of the ECHR
guarantees the right "to receive and impart information and ideas
without interference by public authority and regardless of
frontiers." This right can only be restricted for limited and
specific reasons such as national security or public safety. The
restrictions placed on the rights of expression and imparting of
information by the bills do not meet these requirements. The
importance of the rights protected by Article 10 has been repeatedly
emphasized by the European Court of Human Rights. The court maintains
that freedom of expression is one of the essential foundations of a
democratic society and that the media plays a pre-eminent role in a
state governed by the rule of law. The court insists that any efforts
by a government to restrict freedom of expression be strictly
scrutinized and the reason convincingly established.

"By passing these laws, Armenia risks violating its international
commitments to freedom of expression and the media," said Cartner.
"As Armenia prepares for presidential elections in 2008, the world
will certainly be watching to see if the government respects freedom
of the media and other freedoms necessary for a free and fair vote."

The move is not the first effort by the Armenian government to limit
independent media. The independent television station A1+ lost its
broadcasting license in 2002, after regularly airing criticism of the
government, and lost 12 subsequent tenders for television and radio
frequencies. In June 2006, A1+, which produced a weekly newspaper and
maintains a website, was forced to vacate its offices, after losing a
court case in 2005 challenging a notice of eviction.

Human rights groups have reported violence against journalists in
retaliation for their work, and in September a court sentenced Arman
Babajanian, editor of the opposition newspaper Zhamanak Yerevan, to
four years in prison for failing to serve the compulsory two years of
military service. Although Babajanian admitted to forging documents
in 2002 in order to evade military service, the harsh sentence is
suspected to be retribution for the journalist’s persistent criticism
of government policies (draft evaders are usually sentenced to
between two and three years in prison).

HRW news

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress