All Serzh Sargsyan’s statements are “lolo”, Artur Sakunts
10:23, January 31, 2013 | News | Electoral Rights
Today human rights activist Artur Sakunts was also partaking in the protest action of “Zhokhovurd” daily staff. In an interview with GALLA, he noted that he viewed the lawsuit filed against the daily as an encroachment first of all to the Media and then to the journalist. According to him, poor traditions are to blame, which recognize neither the election campaign nor the election period, since the system is such.
“I view this as an encroachment against freedom of speech and freedom of expression. It is a subsequent attempt of the ruling power to put a straight jacket on the Media to show one thing: frame yourself according to your own proportions. Especially in this pre-election phase, all this can have its impact, because such decisions will also lead to the formation of internal censorship”, stated Artur Sakunts by adding that he couldn’t show indifference towards such phenomena, regardless of the fact, to which media it is targeted at. He noted he had always had fears that pecuniary fines could pose a huge danger and form an ill prototype including even suspension of Media activities. If the pressures exerted against Mass Media become pervasive, then nobody will have a chance to voice about the arbitraries initiated by any oligarch or an official.
To the question if there is an oversight over the number of pressures exerted against Mass Media during Robert Kocharyan’s or Serzh Sargsyan’s ruling term, Artur Sakunts shared his opinion that the gist of the ruling regime hadn’t altered. Either oligarchs or governing authorities incessantly use their levers of Judicial Power against Mass Media.
“It is quite possible that the community head may also use that article against citizens criticizing his activities, this means, it is a way to oppress freedom of expression. It is noteworthy that no criminal and civil or administrative cases are initiated over the encroachments against journalists, and vice versa, similar cases filed against Mass Media get a good turn of events. Hence, the application of pressure mechanism is evident”, said the human rights activist.
Referring to Serzh Sargsyan’s speech delivered at 14th Congress of the Republican Party of Armenia, where he mentioned that Freedom of Speech had been highly ranked, Artur Sakunts noted that it was all “lolo” and added that on the whole all of Serzh Sargsyan’s statements are “lolo”.