On July 7 RA Human Rights Defender Armen Harutiunian released an ad-hoc public report, “Right to Freedom of Expression in the Republic of Armenia”. The report touches upon the laws and other legal acts, regulating the media activities, international standards in the sphere of freedom of expression, the general situation with the broadcast domain. It also analyses incidents with journalists, cases of restriction of press freedom. In whole the ombudsman considers the situation of freedom of expression in Armenia as “very alarming” and recommends taking relevant measures. Specifically, it is necessary to elaborate a package of amendments to the media legislation, which “will reduce the number of legal provisions that impede the establishment of the freedom of expression” and set forth additional guarantees for ensuring its progress.
