Օn March 21, “Media Advocate” Initiative monitored the work of the Commandant’s office with the media in emergency situation. The Commandant’s Office continues demanding from media outlets and Facebook users to remove certain publications.
Petros Ghazaryan, head of the Public Television’s news and analytical service, responded to Aravot.am query, noting that police had instructed to remove one of their March 19 publications about the spread of coronavirus in Iran. Petros Ghazaryan noted: “In fact, there is a problem. It is very difficult to say how to properly present the international news, as we face an objective problem with the word formulations. For example, when referring to the World Health Organization, we are not sure that its data may not cause panic. On the other hand, updates on the WHO website are not done operatively. Their official data may not correspond to RA’s current official data. Consequently, there is a problem of operability; we, in contrast, work operatively.”
Famous doctor Artavazd Sahakyan posted an update on his Facebook page on March 20, after which the police visited the doctor the other day and asked him to remove the post. According to Artavazd Sahakyan, he did not write a post which may promote panic and in fact it was something that was later repeated by Minister Arsen Torosyan. “As a health sphere worker, I have written what the health minister has stated afterwards that people need to communicate less, to maintain order so that we can overcome this situation. Two young men from the Kentron police came and told me respectfully that my article could cause panic. I explained that I had said the same thing as the government stated, but, they warned me about possible imprisonment term and demanded that I remove the post, which was actually done.”
According to Georgian media, a state of emergency has been declared in Georgia. It is noteworthy that in a state of emergency there will be no censorship in Georgia. The research of Union of Informed Citizens NGO, operating in Armenia, reveals that states have largely refrained from restrictions on freedom of expression when setting a state of emergency, and only the authorities of Armenia, Honduras and Romania have declared censorship regime.
According to the organization’s data, a state of emergency was declared without any censorship in the United States, Italy, Spain, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia and Macedonia, and as already noted in Georgia.
