Melikyan: less violence against journalists in 2009 in Armenia

In 2009, Armenia saw slight positive trends in the sphere of mass media. In particular, as noted by Ashot Melikyan, chairman of the committee "In Defence of Freedom of Speech", facts of violence against journalists and pressure on mass media went down.

According to Mr Melikyan, his committee has prepared a report "On Violations of Journalists' and Media's Rights in Armenia in 2009".

According to the studies conducted in preparing the report, in 2008, there were 18 facts of physical violence against journalists, while in 2009 the number of registered cases was 11. The count of violations of the right to receive and disseminate information also went down.

At the same time, Ashot Melikyan has noted that the published data cannot be absolutely precise, as frequently media people abstain from disclosing problems in their professional work. According to his story, the 2009 positive trends do not allow to state that that the freedom of speech is completely protected.

In his turn, Mesrop Arutyunyan, an expert of the Yerevan Press Club, said that cases of using physical violence to journalists in the course of stormy political events are typical for Armenia.