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Armenian parliament bans reporters from Yerevan City Council

27 March 2018 by OC Media

Marina Khacha­tryan during the incident at the Yerevan City Hall (Screen­shot /Azatutyun)

Armenia has passed a law banning reporters from attending Yerevan City Council. The law comes just weeks after reporters captured the physical assault of two female coun­cil­lors in the council chamber.

Armenia’s par­lia­ment, the National Assembly, approved the gov­ern­ment proposal on Friday, RFE/RL’s Armenian service Azatutyun reported.

A week after two women from the oppo­si­tion Yerkir Tsirani (Apricot Country) party were attacked and thrown out of the council by a number male coun­cil­lors from the ruling Repub­li­can Party in February, Yerevan’s Mayor Taron Markarian began to ‘regulate’ media access.

Yerevan-based rights group Human Rights Power told OC Media that the bill, which has already been adopted, ‘deprives jour­nal­ists of the right to enter Yerevan City Hall’.

According to them, the law says that reporters will only be able to follow council sessions through monitors, which are to be installed in a ‘special place, separated from the local self-governing body of Yerevan’. Reporters will require per­mis­sion from the Mayor’s Office to attend.

Azatutyun quoted Justice Minister Davit Haru­tiun­ian as jus­ti­fy­ing the move by saying that the same rules apply to reporters who cover the Armenian par­lia­ment.

Arman Gharibyan, co-founder of Human Rights Power, told OC Media by email that the changes not only deprive jour­nal­ists of the oppor­tu­ni­ty to ‘follow the processes of the sessions, but also prevents them from being able to ask Gov­ern­ment members questions’ without a special permit.

[Read on  OC Media: Yerevan City Council brawl sparks rally against misogyny

Jour­nal­ists barred from Yerevan Council after reporting attack on female coun­cil­lors]

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Filed Under: Stories Tagged With: city council, freedom of media, journalists, misogyny, women, yerevan

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