“A1+” MUST BE BACK ON AIR RIGHT AWAY

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“The case of “A1+” must be reconsidered immediately. It is the demand of the European Court of Human Rights,” declared Andrew Mackintosh, Head of the PACE subcommittee of Mass Media at the international conference “Pluralism in the Armenian Mass Media”. On June 17 the European Court of Human Rights upheld the claim of “A1+”, considering the refusal of broadcasting license a violation of freedom of expression.

According to Mr. Mackintosh the European Court of Human Rights had mentioned in the decision that the interference with Meltex’s freedom to impart information and ideas had not met the requirement of lawfulness under the European Convention.

“It means that the regulatory body, i.e. the National Television and Radio Commission (NTRC) must reconsider the case of “A1+”. However, it cannot reconsider the case after licenses have been granted. The case must be reconsidered by the NTRC now, on the criteria worked out by PACE. It means the reconsideration process must be changed and it’s not something to be done in future,” Andrew Mackintosh says.

Mr. Mackintosh also reminds about the warning of PACE: “If the PACE requirements are not completed, the Armenian delegates might be deprived of their voting rights, which is a serious problem for any country. That means has been very rarely used before. It will affect not only the relations with the EC but also with other countries,” Andrew Mackintosh stated.

Mr. Mackintosh also assured that Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Thomas Hammarberg will visit Armenia next week to focus on various issues.