1. Voluntarily Returned Editor Sentenced to Two Months in Prison
2. Appeals Court Overturned Journalist’s Case
3. Committee Regarding “A1Plus”
4. Information Availability in Armenian Regions
1. Voluntarily Returned Editor Sentenced to Two Months in Prison
July 3 A1plus reports that the Trial Court of the Kentron and Nork-Marash Communities of Yerevan, lead by Judge Edik Avetisyan, sentenced “Haykakan Zhamanak” editor Nikol Pashinyan to two months imprisonment. Pashinyan was a member of Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s election campaign.Nine pages of the 10-page court verdict were each side’s petitions, while conclusions drawn from the whole court session were summarized within only 4-5 sentences.
Pashinyan’s lawyers announced that they are not satisfied with the court verdict and will appeal the verdict at the Appeals Court and, if necessary, to the European Court of Human Rights. July 1 the editor, wanted for a year and four months, surrendered to law enforcement officials. A group of journalists have reported on the 34-year-old Pashinyan’s surrender.
2. Appeals Court Overturned Journalist’s Case
1. Voluntarily Returned Editor Sentenced to Two Months in Prison
2. Appeals Court Overturned Journalist’s Case
3. Committee Regarding “A1Plus”
4. Information Availability in Armenian Regions
1. Voluntarily Returned Editor Sentenced to Two Months in Prison
July 3 A1plus reports that the Trial Court of the Kentron and Nork-Marash Communities of Yerevan, lead by Judge Edik Avetisyan, sentenced “Haykakan Zhamanak” editor Nikol Pashinyan to two months imprisonment. Pashinyan was a member of Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s election campaign.Nine pages of the 10-page court verdict were each side’s petitions, while conclusions drawn from the whole court session were summarized within only 4-5 sentences.
Pashinyan’s lawyers announced that they are not satisfied with the court verdict and will appeal the verdict at the Appeals Court and, if necessary, to the European Court of Human Rights. July 1 the editor, wanted for a year and four months, surrendered to law enforcement officials. A group of journalists have reported on the 34-year-old Pashinyan’s surrender.
2. Appeals Court Overturned Journalist’s Case
July 4 Tert.am reports that the previous day, July 3, the Criminal Court of Appeals of the Republic of Armenia examined the appeal presented by reporter Gohar Veziryan’s lawyer Hovik Arsenyan referring to the criminal case brought against the reporter due to disrespectful treatment towards Judge Gagik Avetisyan. Before the start of proceedings lawyer Arsenyan made a petition regarding Veziryan’s agreement for the amnesty decision adopted by the National Assembly on June 19, 2009 to be applied to her, though she doesn’t find herself guilty and hasn’t committed a crime.
The newspaper reports that the three judges left the courtroom for consultation for 10 minutes. Accordingly, they reached a decision to overturn the verdict of the Trial Court of the Kentron and Nork-Marash Communities, to dismiss the criminal case and to stop criminal persecution of the journalist, as well as to eliminate the charge within republic limits.
3. Committee Regarding “A1Plus”
July 4 Zhamanak.com reports that Styopa Safaryan and Anahit Bakhshyan from the Heritage faction of the Parliament have taken on a legislative initiative on “Establishing NA Contemporary Committee”.The initiative aims at fulfilling the responsibilities taken over by Armenia regarding the recent Resolution 1677 adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
The Committee should conduct an open, fair and transparent competition for frequency allocation, study the legislative norms hindering the implementation of the verdict reached by the European Court as far as a broadcasting license allocation to A1plus TV channel is concerned, eliminate the obstacles, etc.
4. Information Availability in Armenian Regions
“Hayq” has presented the summarized report of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration on the means of public awareness which exists in 914 communities of Armenia. 17 communities out of 97 of the Ararat region have no fixed communication. However, the Internet is available to the community administrations. Internet communication is accessed only in the regional cities of Artashat, Ararat, Masis and Vedi. There is a TV company only in Artashat city.None of the communities have a radio station.
Only two communities out of 97 publish a newspaper. 114 communities in the Aragatsotn region have wire and cell phone communication, 34 communities are connected to the internet, 29 of them at schools. Only Ashtarak city has internet communication. Newspapers are published in only three communities. There are 97 communities in the Armavir region. 56 out of them have no fixed communication and 4 maintain mobile communication. The Internet is available only to the heads of 4 communities. There is no type of communication in the border village Margara within this region. To be continued…