Armenia’s Ombudsman Asks Journalists Not to Mock Him or Interfere with His Work

RA Human Rights Defender Karen Andreasyan, speaking to journalists in Yerevan today, said he can defend people in the event that their rights are violated by the following state agencies: State Committee of the Real Estate Cadastre, Judicial Acts Compulsory Enforcement Service, RA Police, RA General Prosecutor’s office, RA Armed Forces, penitentiaries, Armenia’s State Labour Inspectorate, State Revenue Committee, village councils, city halls, regional mayors’ offices.

Asked by a journalist whether the ombudsman can defend journalists, for example, from MPs, Andreasyan said no.

“A National Assembly deputy is not a state agency, and we, regretfully, cannot defend [individuals] from an MP, but if an MP insults a journalist and subjects her to violence and the police doesn’t taken any action, the journalist can contact us and we will defend the journalist from the police’s failure to act,” he said.

As reported earlier, a Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression report noted that there has been an unprecedented abundance of lawsuits against news media in Armenia. Some media professionals attribute this to last year’s amendments to Armenia’s Civil Code which decriminalized libel and defamation and blame Andreasyan as he took part in the discussions on the formulation of the law.

Asked whether he doesn’t feel guilty, Andreasyan said this is not a bad law and he doesn’t consider himself to blame.

Armenia’s current Human Rights Defender, who was appointed to his position on Mar. 2, believes that after the new law came into effect the number of cases of violence against journalists dropped.

However, after the law was passed, news outlets began to be subject to financial pressure, retorted journalists present in today’s press conference. To which Andreasyan said, it’s more important for him that a journalist is not in jail or in hospital than if a news outlet suffers financially.

Andreasyan than appealed to journalists with two requests: first, to pass on to their readership for what issues they can appeal to his office and urge them not to lose hope.

Second: “If you don’t want to help, then don’t interfere; don’t try to eliminate the Human Rights Defender’s office. This office is intended to help thousands of people,” he said.

When journalists asked Andreasyan to recall an incident in which journalists interfered with his work, the ombudsman said perhaps no news outlet has interfered, but when the press begins to ridicule his person, this action, according to Andreasyan, weakens the institution of the Human Rights Defender.