On October 4 the Government of Armenia answered the inquiry of the European
Court of Human Rights on the suit of the founder of “A1+” TV company, “Meltex”
LLC, versus the Republic of Armenia (application registered on November 1, 2002).
This was stated in an interview to “Aravot” daily (issue of October 12, 2004)
by the Chairman of the International Union of Lawyers Tigran Ter-Yesayan, defending
the interests of “A1+” in litigations. As it has been reported, the response
of the Government was to be presented to the European Court before September
20 and should have contained, in particular, the justifications of the court
rulings of Armenian judicial bodies on the suits of the TV company, challenging
the legitimacy of the broadcast licensing competitions held by the National
Commission on Television and Radio. (“A1+” TV company, deprived of air on April
2, 2002, participated in 8 broadcast licensing competitions with no success,
losing also the court cases filed to challenge the results of almost all these
competitions.) As Tigran Ter-Yesayan noted, the claims of the “A1+” founder
to the RA Government are grounded by the violation of Articles 10 and 6 of the
European Convention on the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, guaranteeing
the right to freedom of expression and the right to fair trial.
According to the “A1+” attorney, now the TV company must present to the European
Court its counter-arguments to the response of the Government before the end
of November, after which the hearing of the case will start.
