Human rights defenders: violence against journalists increases in Armenia

In 2020, in Armenia, the number of cases when force had been used against journalists and media had experienced pressure from the authorities increased against the background of the martial law declared in the autumn of 2020 and restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus infection. This was announced by the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 22, 2020, in Armenia, after the authorities warned the media about fines for dissemination of prohibited information, journalists demanded to abolish censorship in covering the situation with coronavirus.

In 2020, 273 cases of violation of the rights of journalists were registered in Armenia. Six of them were cases of physical violence, in which 11 media workers were injured, reported Ashot Melikyan, the chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression (CPFE). Furthermore, the human rights defenders detected 177 cases of pressure on the media and 90 cases of violation of the right to receive and disseminate information.

In Armenia, the past year was also quite alarming in terms of court cases: 72 new cases against journalists and media were registered. According to Ashot Melikyan, some of the above cases concern insult and defamation: 61 cases in 2020 compared to 89 in 2019.