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A number of journalistic organizations on Thursday issued a joint statement on the decision to ban Panorama.am photojournalist Lilian Galstyan from entering the National Assembly of Armenia. The full text of the statement is provided below.

“On the morning of August 5, Lilian Galstyan, a photojournalist for the Panorama.am news site, was banned from entering the National Assembly. Later it turned out that she was generally deprived of the opportunity to cover the parliamentary events.

In a letter sent to the editorial office, Anna Grigoryan, Deputy Chief of Staff of the National Assembly, said that while carrying out her professional activities, the photographer violated Clause 2.8 of Appendix 1 of the parliament speaker’s decision on the approval of the rules inside the National Assembly building, according to which “it is prohibited videotaping, filming and photographing of security personnel during the course of their professional activities on the territory of the protected area, including at checkpoints."

The editorial office, in turn, noted that some photographs were taken at the corridors and the sessions hall of the National Assembly, where security officers, who, according to the National Assembly leadership, in fact, have the task of hiding their faces, look directly and with an open face at the hall from where live streaming is carried out.

We, the undersigned journalistic organizations, strongly condemn the arbitrariness and unreasonable restrictions against journalists by the leadership of parliament since the beginning of this week and reiterate our deep concern expressed in the 3 August statement. In the recent period, the torrent of decisions and legislative initiatives that hamper freedom of speech and activities of the media has clearly undermined the chance to establish civilized relations between the media and the authorities.

Until these regressive initiatives are canceled, we will consider them as an encroachment on the rights of our partners.

Based on the foregoing, we demand that the leadership of the National Assembly:

- Immediately restore the rights of Panorama.am photojournalist Lilian Galstyan to enter the parliament and cover the work of the National Assembly;

- Revoke or retract the decisions and draft laws restricting the activities of journalists, that have been adopted in recent days or have been put into circulation, and refrain from such initiatives in the future;

- Outline all the problems concerning relations between the parliament and the media in one document, organize broad discussions with journalists accredited to the National Assembly, as well as with interested structures and experts to reach legal and reasonable solutions.”

The statement was signed by:

Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression
Yerevan Press Club
Media Initiatives Center
Journalists’ Club ‘Asparez’
Freedom of Information Center
Media Diversity Institute – Armenia
Public Journalism Club
Journalists for Future
Journalists for Human Rights
Goris Press Club
Femida Ngo