November 5, 2024, Yerevan

On November 4, 2024, the editorial office of Mediahub.am received a letter from the Chief of Staff of the National Assembly announcing the termination of accreditation for their reporter Vahe Makaryan in the parliament. This action was attributed to the October 31 scandalous confrontation between NA Speaker Alen Simonyan and Vahe Makaryan, which was covered by a number of media.

According to these reports, when the journalist approached the head of the parliament in the NA building for a comment, their conversation started on a humorous note. However,  it soon escalated into mutual accusations, and eventually into a verbal altercation with street-like expressions. Security officers intervened to stop the conflict.

We, the undersigned journalistic organizations, note that incidents like this have become frequent in the National Assembly in recent years, when tensions between deputies and journalists lead to crossing the boundaries of civilized relations, and professional interactions turn into unacceptable disputes with extreme manifestations of intolerance.

It is also noteworthy that following such conflicts, accountability is typically imposed only on journalists, who are stripped of their accreditation in the National Assembly. Meanwhile, such incidents leave parliamentarians exhibiting indecent behavior, aggression and grossly violating parliamentary ethics without any consequences—this case being no exception.

It can be observed that the NA staff, in their decision to deprive Vahe Makaryan of accreditation, attempted to provide legal grounds, referencing the Procedure for Accreditation of Journalists at the RA National Assembly and the Law “On Mass Communication.” Meanwhile, according to paragraph 5 of Article 6 of the same law, “…The state body that granted accreditation to a journalist can terminate the accreditation at its own initiative only if the journalist, within a one-year period after receiving a written warning regarding the termination of accreditation for violating the rules outlined in paragraph 6 of this Article, again violates the rules stipulated in paragraph 6 of this Article .”

Vahe Makaryan did not receive any written warning during the past year. Yet, the NA staff, by artificially recording two violations in one incident, acted arbitrarily and violated the law.

Strictly condemning the incident, we demand:

• the staff of the National Assembly to immediately restore the accreditation of journalist Vahe Makaryan in the parliament;
• the “Civil Contract” faction of the National Assembly, to urgently initiate the formation of a parliamentary ethics committee, address the above-mentioned incident in a discussion, and publicly assess Alen Simonyan’s behavior.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB
MEDIA INITIATIVES CENTER
MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE-ARMENIA
PUBLIC JOURNALISM CLUB
“JOURNALISTS FOR THE FUTURE” NGO
“JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS” NGO
GORIS PRESS CLUB