ONE SHOULD NOT TREAT EUROPEAN COURT’S DECISIONS FROM POINT OF VIEW OF VICTORY OR DEFEAT, RA DEPUTY JUSTICE MINISTER SAYS
Noyan Tapan
Ju ne 18, 2008
YEREVAN, JUNE 18, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the June 16 decision of the
European Court of Human Rights, depriving of air the A1+ independent
TV company contradicts Article 10 of the European Convention of Human
Rights, which regards the right of free expression. However, as Gevorg
Kostanian, the RA Deputy Justice Minister, the representative of the
RA government in the European Court of Human Rights, said at the
June 18 press conference, one should not treat the European Court
decision from point of view of victory or defeat. According to him,
the goal of any judgement and decision is to bring the RA legislation
and its use in line with the European Court standards.
According to G. Kostanian, the opinion that A1+ was not given a
licence of broadcasting by political motives was not confirmed during
the examination in the European Court. At the same time, according
to the Deputy Minister, European Court’s decision mentions that the
National Commission of Television and Radio did not clearly present
the reasons of rejecting the licence.
G. Kostanian said that the lawsuit introduced by A1+ to the European
Court demanded material compensation of 1m 350 thousand USD and
non-material compensation and compensation of judicial expenditures
of 50 thousand USD.
However, by European Court’s decision, the Armenian government is to
pay 20 thousand euros to A1+ as a compensation of moral damage and 10
thousand euros for judicial expenditures. At that, 10 thousand euros
is envisaged for giving it to the London juridical organization. It
was mentioned that the European Court decision, according to the
Convention, comes in force three months after the publication, and
within three months the RA government is obliged to make the payment.