‘I waited for about 3 hours, they did not allow me to enter Artsakh’: journalist on being denied entry

Today, on August 8, another Armenian journalist, Ani Gevorgyan, was denied entry to Artsakh.

“I waited for about 3 hours on the way to Artsakh. The Russian peacekeepers said their commander needed to come, and when the commander arrived, they did not allow me to enter Artsakh. They said there are journalists we are allowing inside and those we are not allowing. However, they permitted our operator and driver,” Ani Gevorgyan recounted in an interview with Civic.am, adding that she plans to appeal to the RA Human Rights Defender and the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Regarding the issue, the journalist contacted the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh, Davit Babayan, to clarify whether a list existed of those allowed and not allowed to enter Artsakh. In response, Davit Babayan stated that they have not presented any list to the peacekeepers, and that citizens of the Republic of Armenia have the right to enter Artsakh without hindrance.

It should be noted that days earlier, the Russian peacekeepers had also denied journalist Zhirayr Voskanyan entry to Artsakh. According to Zhirayr Voskanyan, they assured the Russian peacekeepers that they would not obstruct their work, and representatives from the Artsakh security service were also present during the discussions. However, the Russian peacekeepers insisted that a document issued by the Russian leadership was required for entry into Artsakh.

The entry to Artsakh was recently also ‘closed’ to the leader of the ‘Heritage’ party, Raffi Hovhannisyan, as the Russian peacekeepers denied him entry as well. Earlier, on April 12, entry was denied to opposition members of the RA National Assembly.

The spokesman for the RA Human Rights Defender, Edgar Ayvazyan, commented on the issue in an interview with Civic.am, stating that they have already received alerts from several individuals who have been denied entry to Artsakh: “These cases are individual, and the RA Human Rights Defender has made relevant inquiries to the Artsakh Human Rights Defender. Once the responses are received, they will be provided to the individuals concerned.”

A member of the board of the Yerevan Press Club, Ashot Gazazyan, also spoke about the situation, noting, “Following the developments that are unfolding around Berdzor, Aghavno, and the Lachin corridor, this seems to be part of a chain; tomorrow it could be another official denied entry to Artsakh. I do not think the Armenian side has any leverage to influence this situation. I cannot imagine what kind of list the Russian peacekeeper would need, in which a journalist is presented as ‘persona non grata’; this is intolerable.”