TV Censorship, Wire Tapping & Pop Music

Following on from the previous post detailing concerns about access to the media in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election in Armenia, RFE/RL reports that one regional TV station has already found itself in hot water after broadcasting last month’s speech attacking the government by the first president, Levon Ter Petrosian.

The Gyumri-based Gala TV’s Executive Director apparently aired the speech after being paid to do so by Ter Petrosian’s backers and despite warnings not to do so by the National Commission on Television and Radio (NCTR).

[…] Vahan Khachatrian claimed that officers of the Gyumri branch of the National Security Service visited him shortly afterward and warned Gala to stop covering Ter-Petrosian’s return to active politics.

Khachatrian said he will ignore the alleged warning. “I’m not afraid of anything or anyone,” he said, adding that tax officials in Gyumri are now investigating the legality of his ownership of real and other property.

Khachatrian also struck a defiant in a separate written statement issued later in the day. “I want to emphasize that the Gala TV company’s position will not change and that I, as the company’s owner, will not tolerate any attempt at interference by any structure or individual,” he said.

The claims came just three days after Armenia’s leading media associations expressed serious concern at reports that the government has ordered TV channels in Yerevan and elsewhere in Yerevan to shun events featuring Ter-Petrosian and, in particular, a rally which he plans to hold on Friday.

Interestingly, despite attempts by the authorities to convince people through media outlets loyal to the government that Ter Petrosian’s chances in the coming election are slim, its actions instead suggest otherwise. RFE/RL reports that “Ter-Petrosian is increasingly emerging as the main challenger of the election favorite, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian” and its Press Review quotes one pro-opposition newspaper as alleging that pressure is being applied on influential political and economic figures who support his return.

“Aravot” reports that tax authorities have launched a large-scale financial inspection of businesses owned by Khachatur Sukisian, a wealthy entrepreneur sympathetic to former President Levon Ter-Petrosian. The paper says a similar inspection will be conducted at a hardware store chain owned by Ter-Petrosian’s brother Petros.

One pro-opposition newspaper involved in Ter Petrosian’s political comeback says that the ruling Republican party will again fall back on its old trick of holding a free pop concert on the same day as an opposition rally, which is anticipated to mark the start of his presidential campaign, in the hope that attendance at the latter will be low.

“Haykakan Zhamanak” slams the governing Republican Party (HHK) for its decision to stage a pop concert on October 26, the day when Ter-Petrosian plans to holds his first rally in more than a decade. The paper says the main purpose of the event is to lure people away from the rally, calling it “yet another manifestations of panic among the Republicans.” “They are so scared of the rally to be held in Liberty Square on October 26 that they have decided to take all possible measures to hide that panic,” claims the pro-Ter-Petrosian daily.

In other news, RFE/RL also reports that the Armenian National Assembly today approved a bill which would allow the former KGB, the National Security Service (NSS), to tap phones without having to first seek authorization from a court. Given that the judiciary is considered to be in the pocket of the authorities, such a move must be one of concern and not least because there is no justifiable reason for such a move in a country that faces no internal terrorist or similar threat.