Forum of Writers’ Union of Armenia starts with a big scandal: Levon
Ananyan offers journalists to sue him

2009-07-04 13:52:00

ArmInfo. The forum of the Writers’ Union of Armenia (WUA) has started
with a big scandal. By the decision of WUA Board, the doors were closed
before the journalists which were undesirable for Levon Ananyan. As a
result, representatives of not only a number of newspapers and news
agencies, but also TV companies "AR", "ALM", "MIR", "Yerevan" and
"Shant" stayed outside. The indignant journalists were told that they
should have been accredited in advance to cover the forum. Putting
aside the fact that only several media, mostly pro-governmental, were
aware of the accreditation process, it should be noted that WUA is a
public organization, and according to the Armenian legislation, only
state bodies are to demand accreditation of mass media. However, this
fact didn’t worry the police, who forced out the most active
journalists, thereby violating another law "On mass media". Only 1.5
hour after the beginning of the forum, WUA Chairman Levon Ananyan put
to a vote the question whether to let the unaccredited journalists in
or not. As it was expected, no more than 15 out of about 300 people
voted "for". Ananyan himself is quite well aware of the fact that the
doors were closed before the journalists illegally. "If they are
discontent, let them sue me",- he said at the forum.

To note, the issue on election of the new WUA chairman will be put to a
vote after 3 pm, Saturday. Only Levon Ananyan and Razmik Davoyan
advanced their nominees.