European officials urge Armenia to scrap new bill on foreign broadcasts

Arminfo
2 Jul 07

Yerevan, 2 July: "I have expressed my concern to the Armenian foreign
minister in connection with the amendment to the law on TV and radio,
which is aimed at banning foreign broadcasts on Public Radio and the at
increasing taxes on them," the head of the delegation of the Ago
monitoring group of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, Per
Sjorgren, told a news conference in Yerevan.

"We are currently analyzing this bill, but the OSCE statements on this
issue fully correspond with the statement that we made earlier. The ban
on foreign broadcasts, in particular Radio Liberty, as well as the
disproportionate increase in taxes on them, which can result in the
termination of their broadcasts, violates Article 10 of the European
Convention on Human Rights and can seriously affect freedom of
expression in the country," Sjorgren said.

The OSCE representative on freedom of the media, Miklos Haraszti,
called on the Armenian authorities today not to adopt bills that
practically aim to ban the broadcasting of Radio Liberty in the
country. "The adoption of these bills is an encroachment on Armenia’s
obligations in the field of ensuring pluralism in the media and access
to information. I urge the Armenian authorities to call off the
amendments," Haraszti said.