Armenian government`s decision restricting press coverage of wreath-laying ceremony at Armenian Genocide Memorial shameful - UJA
ArmInfo.The Department of Information and Public Relations of the Prime Minister's Office issued a message according to which only accredited photojournalists will be allowed to visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial (Tsitsernakaberd) during the government's wreath-laying ceremony on April 24, since the ceremony
will be of a protocol nature.
The press is allowed to attend only
after the government ceremonial part has passed. On this occasion,
the Union of Journalists of Armenia issued a statement in which it
called such a decision shameful, unacceptable and unprecedented.
According to the SJA, this is another noisy, shameful and
unprecedented attempt on the part of the current authorities of
Armenia to limit access to information and prevent the media from
fully performing their professional activities. With this
unacceptable decision, the authorities show their fears and, most
importantly, their attitude towards the work of the media and
journalists.
The statement notes that this is not the first time the press has
been denied access to such events. On January 28 of this year, on the
occasion of the formation of the Armenian Army, the authorities
rudely prohibited journalists from entering the Yerablur military
pantheon. "Such steps by the government of the country, which
declared itself a "bastion of democracy," and especially the
consistent nature of these steps, indicate a violation of democratic
values, including, first of all, unbridled measures directed against
freedom of speech and the press.
The Union of Journalists of Armenia strongly condemns this
anti-democratic behavior of the government and demands an immediate
review of this decision regarding the press and allowing media
representatives to freely cover the events of the anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide without time restrictions.