Striking Armenian radio stations seek Ombudsman's support

On September 26, the Armenian radio stations "Radio-Hay" and "Hay-FM" sent an open letter to Karen Andreasyan, the Ombudsman in Armenia, asking him to check whether the initiative of the Committee for State Revenues to audit their financial condition has no attributes of political persecution.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that since September 25 the above radio stations are on strike in protest against the intention of the above Committee to audit their financial documents.

According to Andreas Gukasyan, a former presidential candidate and the top manager of the "Radio-Hay" and "Hay-FM", tax inspectors intend, under the guise of the audit, to conduct a comprehensive check of financial documents. He believes that such actions are not prescribed by the law and that inspectors are forbidden to audit radio stations.

Mr Gukasyan has also noted that the law envisages unscheduled audits of enterprises, which manufacture or import goods to more than 250,000 US dollars a year. Radio is a different business; it has no such real expenses, he explained to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He is sure that the actions of tax inspectors have some political subtext. Armenia has precedents, when the tax office became a tool of political struggle, Andreas Gukasyan asserts.

Ashot Melkumyan, the Chairman of the Committee to Protect the Freedom of Speech, has confirmed that Armenia saw numerous cases, when media fell under scrutiny of tax authorities on the order of political circles.