"Strong Armenia": Rubinyan, even before assuming his post as Speaker  of the Armenian Parliament, has already decided to restrict media  activities in the legislative body

ArmInfo.  Vice Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Ruben Rubinyan, even before assuming his duties as Speaker of the Parliament, has already decided to restrict  the professional activities of the media in the country's legislative  body. Marianna Ghahramanyan, press secretary of the "Strong Armenia"  bloc, announced this on her Facebook page.

She noted that on July 28, Rubinyan signed an unprecedented and  shameful decision "On Approving Security Rules in Effect on the  Territory and in the Building of the National Assembly," which  effectively restricts the freedom of movement of journalists  accredited to parliament. According to the decision, as Ghahramanyan  noted, a special, separate area has been designated for media work,  while in "special control zones," journalistic activity is entirely  prohibited. "Additional administrative barriers are being created for  covering parliamentary committee meetings. Mandatory pre-registration  for journalists covering the meetings is being introduced, with lists  to be submitted at least two hours before the start of the session.   Nothing like this has ever existed before," the bloc's press  secretary pointed out.

According to Ghahramanyan, journalists are effectively banned from  filming from the National Assembly session hall's press box. "This  means that after the live broadcast of the parliamentary session is  turned off, the media will no longer be able to film what is  happening in the hall.  Furthermore, taking photos, videos, and audio  recordings of State Protection Service officers while they are  performing their duties is also prohibited. In essence, this  restriction is aimed at preventing the documentation of potential  execution of illegal orders," the "Strong Armenia" bloc press  secretary believes.

 She emphasized that these restrictions cannot in any way be  justified as necessary and proportionate measures taken in the  interests of security. Ghahramanyan believes that these are nothing  more than restrictions on freedom of speech and freedom of the press.  "After all, freedom of speech includes the right of journalists to  collect and disseminate information of public interest, including,  first and foremost, information about the activities of parliament,"  the bloc's press secretary recalled.

Meanwhile, responding to the concerns voiced, Rubinyan assured that  the aforementioned regulations have been in effect since 2021.  According to him, the recent changes have not affected the activities  of journalists in any way. "New and unprecedented tightening and  restrictions" on the professional activities of journalists in the  National Assembly have been in effect since 2021. Among the recent  amendments to the decision on security regulations for the National  Assembly building, there was not a single change concerning  journalistic activity, much less any restriction. "Dear journalists,  you could find out for yourself by devoting just five minutes of your  precious time to comparing the previous version of the rules with the  new one," Rubinyan wrote.

Recall, the first session of Armenia's ninth  National Assembly  will  take place on August 2 at 10:00 AM.

Note, journalistic organizations have previously repeatedly  criticized the "velvet authorities" for restricting journalists'  activities in the country's parliament, something that had not  occurred before 2018.