The [Armenian] Aravot.ru.am website has been blocked in Russia for refusing to remove data about a businessman of Armenian descent from Sochi from the material about the cooperation of the Armenian Foreign Ministry with crime bosses, the editorial board of the edition reported.
Lawyers of the businessman from Sochi were the first to address the editorial board of Aravot with grievances. They were dissatisfied with the fact that the website reprinted materials about his detention in the Czech Republic. "They demanded that we deny the publication. For our part, we pointed to the fact that this was not our author's publication. However, no reaction followed. On 24 January, [Russian media watchdog] Roskomnadzor sent us a letter, which said that on 17 January, Tagansky Court of Moscow found a violation of law on personal data and warned that if the violation was not eliminated within one working day, the website would be blocked on Russian territory within three days," the editor-in-chief of the Internet edition, Anna Israyelyan, said.
Roskomnadzor's demand was satisfied, but on 29 January, the editorial board received a letter from the agency with a new demand. "They wanted us to remove personal data from another publication about a briefing of Shavarsh Kocharyan (deputy Armenian foreign minister – remark by Kavkazsky Uzel), who, in particular, commented on the interview (of the businessman), in which the businessman said that he was an adviser to the head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, travelled in a car with a diplomatic number, and had an Armenian diplomatic passport," Israyelyan said.
In this publication, Shavarsh Kocharyan explained that the businessman from Sochi was a freelance co-operator of the Armenian Foreign Ministry. "There is a large Armenian community in Sochi and there are problems linked to the community. He often resolves problems successfully. As regards his being an adviser, he is no longer an adviser," Kocharyan said. It was noted in the material that Kocharyan refused to answer a question as to how often the foreign agency resorted to assistance from local crime bosses of Armenian origin to settle problems in specific countries. "Stop please," the report quoted the words by the deputy Armenian foreign minister,
Aravot refused to edit Kocharyan's words about the businessman from Sochi. "The court did not even discuss this issue. This is going to happen on 26 February. It follows that one district court in Moscow can take measures to secure a claim and prohibit the coverage of an interview of a deputy Armenian foreign minister without our involvement," the editor-in-chief said, drawing a conclusion in an article published on the Aravot website on 1 February.
The Roskomnadzor website confirmed that Tagansky Court of Moscow made the decision to restrict access to Aravot.am on 17 January.
Kavkazsky Uzel wrote earlier that on 26 December 2018, the court found the editor of BlogSochi, Alexander Valov, guilty of extorting money from a member of the State Duma and sentenced him to six years in a standard regime penal colony and a fine of R700,000 [about 10,700 dollars]. This case is a signal for the media, the journalist trade union said. The punishment the court has issued is extremely cruel. This is pressure on freedom of speech, Nadezhda Azhgikhina, vice president of the European Federation of Journalists, said.
