OVER HALF FINE IMPOSED ON GALA TV COMPANY RAISED THROUGH CONTRIBUTIONS

YEREVAN, MARCH 22, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the latest information on
contribution-raising in favor of independent Gala TV channel (Gymri),
13 mln 500 thousand drams was collected, which made up 57-58% of the
fine imposed by the administrative court. The chairman of "Asparez"
club Levon Barseghian announced this at the March 21 press conference
in Yerevan. To recap, the Gyumri administrative court chaired by Judge
Edik Nahapetian on March 19 ruled to impose a fine of 25 mln 116,700
drams on Gala. The ruling comes into force from the moment of its
publication. The company may appeal within 3 months. Gala intends to
pay the fine, and then to dispute the ruling in higher courts and the
European Court of Human Rights.

L. Barseghian said that 3,000-3,500 persons from nearly 200 Armenian
communities have made contributions to Gala. The minimum amount of
contributions was 500 drams, while the largest one made 1 mln 100
thousand drams. About 24% of contributors have never watched programs
of Gala.

In the opinion of L. Barseghian, the fact of setting fire to his car
has direct relation to the protection of Gala. "When defending Gala, we
criticized a number of officials not only in connection with Gala but
also for poor performance of their professional duty, which was
perceived as criticism of Gala’s defenders," he said.

The car of the chairwoman of Gyumri-based "Asparez" club Nadezhda
Hakobian was set on fire at about 1:05 a.m. on March 21. At that moment
the car was at the disposal of Levon Barseghian. The persons on duty
saw two men approach the car and stand near it for 5 seconds. The car
instanly caught fire, police arrived in 20-22 minutes, firemen in 25
minutes. The damage done to the car makes about 900 thousand drams (3
thousand dollars).

The chairman of Yerevan Press Club Boris Navasardian stated that it is
necessary to bring the level of freedom of the mass media and social
structures at least to the pre-election level and to strictly apply the
law, maintaning equal protection of the law. According to him, equal
protection of the law was violated during the state of emergency: the
restrictions did not apply to progovernment mass media, while
censorship was introduced by blocking Internet sites of independent and
opposition mass media.

In connection with the fact of burning the reporter’s car, the head of
Transparency International Armenia Office Amalia Kostanian accused the
authorities. She said that the current atmosphere in the country has
been created by them.