Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenia’s membership into the Eurasian Economic Union will have grave consequences in terms of freedom of speech, said today, by Chairman of Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression Ashot Melikyan and president of the Gyumri-based Journalists’ Club “Asparez” Levon Barseghyan during a press conference.
Ashot Melikyan conducted a comparison between the levels of freedom of speech among Armenia and the EEU’s other members. According to the expert, Armenia is in a much better situation, and that the other member states (Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan) have a lot to learn from Armenia in areas such as internet access. He specifically discussed Armenia’s preliminary draft reform about “fake” information on the internet as a violation against freedom of speech. According to him, passing similar bills would be easier after entering the EEU.
Levon Barseghyan believed that the most pessimistic scenario after entering the EEU is that the situation of Armenia’s mass media may become similar to that of Russia’s. He stressed that the discussion of pluralism in Russia is not allowed and that journalists, as well as Russian experts are “Vladimir Putin’s media gun.”
The most positive scenario, according to the expert, Armenia would be allowed a certain level of media freedom.
“They'll say, speak as much as you want, you are a small nation, our army is in your country, we see your economic flows, and the KGB is tracking everyone’s phones,” noted Barseghyan. However, in his opinion, the present situation of journalists in Armenia is not to be envied either. Within the past 3 years, there have been 250 cases of violence registered against journalists, however, only 4 cases had a subsequent investigation in the matter.
The Armenian government is set to sign an accession treaty to enter the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union on October 10, 2014 in Minsk, Belarus after repeated delays and continuing negotiations. According to the Reporters Without Border Freedom Index 2014, Armenia far surpassed the other member states with a score of 78, while Kazakhstan was ranked 161, Belarus 157, and Russia 148.
Photograph: eurasianews.md