On November 9 a press-conference was held in the RA General Prosecutor’s Office,
devoted to institution of separate proceedings on the terrorist attack in the
Armenian Parliament on October 27, 1999. However, not all of the leading Armenian
media were able to receive first-hand information on the reasons behind the
closure of the investigation on this separate part. Thus, the correspondents
of “168 Zham” weekly and the online publication of “A1+” TV company (www.a1plus.am)
were refused in entry. As YPC was told in these editorial offices, the refusal
of the General Prosecutor’s Office was motivated by “lack of seats”. Considering
the permanently intense interest the Armenian media has been displaying for
the past five years towards everything that refers to the events of October
27, the law enforcement bodies should have been found a possibility to create
additional seats.
The representatives of “A1+” noted also that it is not the first case for them
when some state structures restricted access to information. Thus, recently
particular difficulties are associated with the presence of “A1+” correspondents
at the events held by the administration of the RA President. The latest example
of that is the refusal to accredit “A1+” to cover the visit of the NATO Secretary
General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Yerevan on November 5. The representatives
of “A1+” were only able to attend the meeting of the Secretary General of the
North Atlantic Alliance with the students of Yerevan State University, when
accreditations were issued by the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
