Armenia’s Political Elite are Appointed, No Place for Businessmen in Parliament: Journalist

Members of the political elite hand in hand are taking news outlets to court, but news outlets are not uniting and an expression of professional solidarity is not observed, said head of the Yerevan-based Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression Ashot Melikyan, speaking to journalists today on occasion of World Press Freedom Day.

Also present at today’s press conference was president of the Investigative Journalists NGO, chief editor of Hetq Online Edik Baghdasaryan, who expressed his opinion on Armenian MPs (who are also notorious businessmen) who have launched lawsuits against news outlets recently.

“Let’s agree that we never have a problem with the law. When [MP, business owner] Samvel Aleksanyan is engaged in illegal activities, being an entrepreneur, he doesn’t have a right to be in the National Assembly. The country’s president has appointed him as deputy. The Armenian elite is appointed. Can you imagine, [another MP and businessman] Tigran Arzakantsyan writes laws for us? I don’t want Samvel Aleksanyan to be my elite, or for an MP to come tell a journalist don’t you want to get pregnant from my son?,” said Baghdasaryan.

According to the Hetq Online chief editor, it’s bad that journalists are willing to take this. He said, if parliamentarians are appealing to the courts, then there’s a political decision, it’s been decided from above and it’s not possible to expect justice from the court.