Immediate Cessation of Obstacles to Journalists' Work in the National Assembly Required: Human Rights Defender

The actions of the employees of the security service ensuring safety in the National Assembly (NA) today, which involved halting the professional work of media representatives conducting photography and filming from the deputies' room and forcing them to leave, are absolutely unacceptable. This was stated in a press release by Armenia's Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan.

Such condemnable phenomena are becoming continuous, and the actions of the security personnel are without justification. It should be remembered that the deputies' rooms in the National Assembly were originally constructed specifically for journalists.

The staff of the Human Rights Defender's office has discussed today’s incidents with specific journalists working in the National Assembly. They have reported that they are removed from their designated area, the deputies' room, when they notice that tensions are rising in the NA plenary hall or some commotion is developing. For instance, Gevorg Tosunyan, a reporter from Civilnet.am, noted that employees of the NA security service began to remove them from the two deputies' rooms when they observed that the situation was escalating in the NA plenary hall. The security personnel aggressively pulled journalists out and, upon noticing that he was filming the proceedings, began to pull him forcefully, demanding that he stop filming and leave the deputies' room.

In another case, Mary Martirosyan from Factor.am reported that their security personnel dragged them out without providing any justifications. The same was mentioned by Vahe Makaryan from Hraparak.am.

The Human Rights Defender's office has examined both published and unpublished video footage. The study shows that military personnel demonstrate rude behavior towards journalists. They prohibit journalists from remaining in the designated journalists' room and use physical force to remove them from that room. For example, in one of the videos, a military uniformed officer can be seen pulling two female journalists out of the journalists' room by their arms. In another segment of the video, it is clearly visible how military personnel enter another room designated for journalists and immediately begin prohibiting filming without presenting specific demands or clarifying the purpose of their actions, and without allowing journalists to understand the requirement and leave the room on their own.

It is unclear how journalists are supposed to carry out their work without being filmed by the security personnel when they are everywhere. Therefore, since August 2, the restrictions applied to journalists' activities in the NA building have clearly shown that they are not related to security in the NA building but are simply baseless restrictions on journalistic work, creating obstacles to journalistic activities and negatively affecting the reputation of journalism in society.

The seamless professional work of journalists should be more guaranteed in the parliament, which is the main guarantor of democracy in the country. The free work of journalists is a guarantee of freedom of speech and, consequently, of citizens' control over state bodies and officials.

The Human Rights Defender reiterates that journalists should not be deprived of the right to receive “first-hand” or “breaking” information, including the right to ask questions directly to MPs, conduct interviews, or receive comments on-site.

This also equally pertains to the possibility of covering the incidents in the NA on August 24 and 25. Journalists must have the opportunity to publish information using the relevant information occasion that arises at a specific moment, especially given that journalists should not lose the opportunity to publish sensational or exclusive information. All MPs, both in the ruling and opposition factions, should take this into account. Therefore, the Human Rights Defender's position is clear: the obstacles to journalists' work in the National Assembly, particularly in the deputies' room, must be stopped immediately.