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Armenia: Pro-Opposition TV Station Tries For Comeback

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  • Armenia: Pro-Opposition TV Station Tries For Comeback

    ARMENIA: PRO-OPPOSITION TV STATION TRIES FOR COMEBACK
    Gayane Abrahamyan

    EurasiaNet
    Wednesday, July 2, 2008
    NY

    A favorable European court ruling has prompted popular pro-opposition
    broadcaster A1+ to announce it is ready to return to the airwaves
    in Armenia. The question is how President Serzh Sargsyan's
    administration -- already on the international defensive after the
    March 1 crackdown against opposition protestors -- will respond to
    the planned comeback.

    In a June 17 ruling, the Strasbourg-based European Court for Human
    Rights found that the Armenian government violated Article 10 of the
    European Convention on Human Rights on freedom of speech by denying a
    license to A1+, which is owned by the private Meltex Company. The court
    indicated that a lack of transparency on the part of the presidentially
    appointed National Television and Radio Commission (NTRC) played a
    major role in its ruling on behalf of A1+. The case revolved around
    actions in 2002, when the NTRC arbitrarily took A1+'s broadcasting
    frequency away, and gave it to another broadcaster, according to the
    court. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

    "Meltex, and the general public therefore, had no way of knowing on
    what basis the NTRC had exercised its discretion to refuse a license,"
    the ruling stated. The court ordered the Armenian government to
    pay 20,000 Euros (roughly $31,000) in damages to the station and
    its owners.

    At a June 18 press conference in Strasbourg, Council of Europe
    Secretary General Terry Davis qualified the decision as "a victory
    for freedom of expression" that "should also serve as a lesson to
    all governments inclined to arbitrary interpretations of Article 10
    of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees this
    essential freedom."

    In a draft report about Armenia's attempts to reduce political
    tensions following the March 1 clash, the Parliamentary Assembly of
    the Council of Europe asserted that "[t]he authorities should now grant
    [A1+] a broadcasting license without further delay, in line also with
    a long-standing demand of the Assembly." The item was later removed
    from the final report.

    The Council of Europe's Ministerial Committee will monitor
    Armenia's implementation of the court decision. "Experience
    shows that the Ministerial Committee is usually very much committed
    to assuring the fulfillment of the [Court's] decisions -- the
    restoration of violated rights, in this case granting a broadcast
    license and making legislative amendments," commented Meltex lawyer
    Ara Ghazarian. Earlier resolutions by the Parliamentary Assembly
    of the Council of Europe had cited legislative "ambiguity" as a
    contributing factor in the NTRC's decision to "act arbitrarily"
    and revoke A1+'s license. Since its closure, the station's
    presence has been restricted to the operation of a website. [For
    additional information click here].

    The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international advocacy
    group based in New York, welcomed the court ruling and called on the
    Armenian government to allow the station to resume broadcasting. "By
    granting a license to A1+, newly elected President Serzh Sargsyan
    will demonstrate his commitment to press freedom in the country,"
    commented CPJ Europe and Central Asia program coordinator Nina
    Ognianova in a June 19 statement.

    But do the government and NTRC agree? For now, it seems the answer is
    no. "The verdict can't influence our future decisions, because
    the commission makes them based only on legislation in force," NTRC
    Chairman Grigor Amalian, who is believed to have led the charge
    for revoking A+1's license, told EurasiaNet. The president of
    Armenia is charged with appointing all nine of the Commission's
    members. To date, the government has provided no indication on how
    it will respond to the court decision.

    While journalists and passers-by celebrated the ruling with champagne
    on Yerevan's Northern Avenue, Deputy Justice Minister Gevorg
    Kostanian, who represented the Armenian government before the European
    Court, maintained that A1+ did not win the case. "The Republic of
    Armenia has won five-sixths of this case, while the founder of A1+,
    Meltex Ltd., has won only one-sixth of it," claimed Kostanian. The
    court did not find that the 2002 tender lost by A1+ was illegal,
    and did not uphold Meltex's claim for $1.5 million in financial
    damages.

    Meltex Chairman Mesrop Movsesian said the court decision does not
    directly imply that the TV channel will reopen. He added that, in
    his view, the ruling merely provides grounds for the station to bid
    on available broadcast frequencies. A new tender is planned for the
    autumn, when the five-year license term for a number of TV companies
    expires. "We will participate in the upcoming competitions with quite
    a different status having this verdict, and the commission can't
    ignore it," Movsesian told EurasiaNet. The company lost 12 bids for
    a new broadcast license after the Commission's 2002 revocation
    decision.

    The fact that the court did not grant A1+ a full $1.5 million in
    damages is not a defeat, Movsesian said, responding to Kostanian's
    assertion. "This is, first of all, a moral victory for us and not a
    fulfillment of financial expectations. The important thing was that it
    was recognized as a limitation of the freedom of expression," Movsesian
    said. He originally brought the suit against the government in 2004.

    The verdict's characterization of the decision to revoke A+1's
    license as "arbitrary" means that the company has the grounds to
    re-appeal to the Armenian courts about previous decisions to deny
    the station its broadcast license, noted lawyer Davit Sandukhchian,
    who handles civil law cases related to media.

    But attorney Aram Karakhanian, who also specializes in media law,
    cautions that the decision should not be seen as a direct order to
    the government. "The court could not say directly: 'Republic of
    Armenia, return this TV station to the air,'" said Karakhanian.

    Getting back A1+'s license might take several years, conceded
    Movsesian, but, for now, he stressed, the critical message has already
    been delivered. "Authorities will finally understand that they are
    not almighty and are obliged to provide freedom of speech," he said.

    Editor's Note: Gayane Abrahamyan is a reporter for the online
    ArmeniaNow.com weekly in Yerevan.
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