HEADQUARTERS ON PROTECTION OF SPEECH FREEDOM AND "GALA" TELEVISION COMPANY FOUNDED IN GYUMRI

Noyan Tapan
Dec 13, 2007

GYUMRI, DECEMBER 13, NOYAN TAPAN. 50 citizens founded the headquarters
on protection of speech freedom and the television company "Gala"
in Gyumri on December 12, NT was informed by Levon Barseghian,
chairman of "Asparez" club of journalists.

Persecutions of "Gala" television company and its owner Chap
LLC started after they covered in detail the rally held by Levon
Ter-Petrosian in late September.

The headquarters developed a brief program on protection of "Gala"
TV company. The program envisages attending the December 13 trial
"Gyumri mayor’s office against Chap LL" at the Gyumri courtroom of the
RA Economic Court and demanding that Judge Edward Nahapetian declare
self-challenge and "not participate in the buffoonery of depriving
"Gala" TV company of the air". It is also envisaged to call on Armenian
mass media outlets to cover intensively these developments.

"The Brief Program" also envisages a collection of signatures with
the aim of proposing the mayor of Gyumri Vardan Ghukasian to reject
the version of solving this problem in court and to rent the old
television tower of the city to "Gala" TV company with reasonable
conditions. A rally "in defence of freedom speech and "Gala" TV
company" will be held on December 19, at 4:00 p.m. at Gyumri’s
Theatrical Square. The headquarters has also made a decision to
apply to the Armenian authorities to "restrain the court activity
of V. Ghuksian," rent the television tower to "Gala" telecompany and
take measures to hold an objective trial.

According to a press release of the headquarters, pressure has been
put on the independent information channel of "Gala" television
company for two months, Gyumri mayor’s office has applied to court
with the request to disconnect the old TV tower of Gymri from the
television aerial, while the Gyumri tax inspection also applied to
court with the request to levy an "invented" fine of about 25 million
drams. According to the same source, in the last 36 days, the Gyumri
city police unit has not yet arrived at a conclusion in the issue
of opening a criminal case against employee of the State Tax Service
H. Hovhannisian for attacking a cameraman of "Gala" TV company.