n March 22, Petros Ghazaryan hosted Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan in Public Television’s pavilion. Referring to the media restrictions, Petros Ghazaryan noted that they are not really effective, to which Tigran Avinyan responded that there is be a possibility that the media restrictions are abolished after a short period of time.
Again, we are experiencing a situation when the authorities are not aware of each other and make contradictory statements. On March 20, the preliminary version of the draft law on isolation or self-isolation was discussed in the National Assembly. It was adopted during the first reading, and is due for discussion today. Deputy Minister of Justice Vahe Davtyan noted that in case of violating the restrictions on media, a fine of 50-300 thousand AMD is proposed and if the person has caused a mass infection a punishment up to 5 years imprisonment is offered. Many opposition lawmakers opposed these provisions.
“Media Advocate” notices that government officials make contradictory statements. These legislative steps are aimed at preventing panic, while, the officials themselves actually promote panic by making disagreeable statements. We hope, the National Assembly will consider the recent concerns of the media community, and the opinions that question the media restrictions and the effectiveness of them.
