Epress.am News from Armenia
Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammerberg, during his four-day visit to Armenia, met with the directors of A1+ and GALA TV, two of Armenia’s TV stations that were deprived of a broadcasting license, reports local Armenian daily Aravot (“Morning”).
Vahan Khachatryan, the founder and owner of GALA TV, stressed that the broadcasting competition was about selecting the most obedient among the obedient, writes Aravot.
A1+ President Mesrop Movsisyan explained that Hammarberg was quite surprised to hear what happened during the competition:
“This interested him greatly since he head heard that we participated in the competition with violations. Hammarberg’s first question was that: you having achieved victory in the European Court of Human Rights, how did you commit such violations? I responded, do I leave an impression of being an unreasonable person that would deliberately take such a step? I think, no. Whereas [Armenia’s National Commission on Television and Radio Chair] Grigor Amalyan disseminates [news] that I have specifically put forth such documents because I don’t want to have broadcasts. This is simply sick logic [illogical]. Such a thing is impossible.
“And I said, we ourselves are trying to find out what happened, and the guilty will be punished. Hammerberg was also very interested in how was it that they permitted a package with such violations to participate in the competition. I suggested he direct that question to Grigor Amalyan and the RA president, since the answer interests me too. Particularly since after permitting [A1+] in the competition with 6 criteria, they assigned A1+ a 0. Hammarberg said he will address this issue in detail in his report.”
Recall that on Dec. 23, 2010, Armenia’s National Commission on Television and Radio named the 7 winners of the broadcast licensing competitions. As it has been reported, the competitions, announced by NCTR on July 27, 2010, for regional TV companies, were held in Armenia for the first time and were stipulated by the digital switchover from analogue broadcasting.
A1+ was deprived of its broadcasting license back in April 2002. The TV company has since taken part in all the broadcast licensing competitions, but every time its bids were scored lower by the NCTR than those of its rivals.
On Jun. 17, 2008, the European Court of Human Rights released its judgment on the case of the founder of A1+ TV company, Meltex LLC, and its President Mesrop Movsisyan vs. Republic of Armenia. In the ECHR ruling, the refusals to grant a broadcast license to Meltex LLC were recognized to be a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; that is, of the right of the applicant to freely impart information and ideas.