Head of Commission on State and Legal Affairs: Any interference aimed  at impeding media activities should be avoided

ArmInfo.Any procedural decision taken in relation to the media should be extremely justified and necessary. The former Prosecutor General of Armenia, the head of the  parliamentary commission on state and legal issues Gevorg Kostanyan  stated this on September 19 commenting on the searches that took  place on September 17 in the editorial office of Yerevan today.

According to Kostanyan, any interference aimed at hindering the  activities of the media should be avoided.  The deputy noted that he  does not have the necessary powers to discuss whether there were  enough reasons for the search, since he is not familiar with them. I  can only discuss the consequences of this search, I want to emphasize  that any procedural decision taken with respect to the media should  be extremely justified and necessary, and should not interfere with  the activities of the press, "said the former Prosecutor General of  Armenia.

To note, since the morning of September 17, the law enforcement  bodies of Armenia conducted searches in the editorial office of  Yerevan.today and the house of its chief editor Sevak Hakobyan. The  searches, according to the media, were conducted on the grounds that  the site allegedly published a record of the conversation between the  heads of the national security service and the special investigation  service two days earlier than the rest of the media did. The reason  for this statement was the google search engine. The search engine  indicates that the publication of the record on this portal was made  two days before it appeared in other media. However, the editorial  office of the portal claimed that it had published a conversation  record at the same time as all other Armenian media, but there were  simply problems with the search engine. A similar situation, added to  the editorial staff, was formed with the portal of the newspaper  "Hraparak". The same search engine indicates that the record on this  portal appeared for 5 days before the day of publication in the  remaining media. Meanwhile, the editorial board of Yerevan.today as  early as September 12, having noticed the problem of the search  engine, issued a refutation. "The network spread information that our  website posted a record of the conversation between the heads of the  National Security Service and the SIS two days ago, demonstrating  some" evidence. "Internet experts have already denied this, noting  that the system Google crashes. Incidentally, on September 11, at the  same time, about 14 hours, as the rest of the colleagues and users of  the network.On the site the material was posted about 15 hours when  the information was already widely covered in the media, "the report  says.

To recall, according to the UK, in the framework of the criminal case  on the wiretapping of the telephone conversation between the heads of  the National Security Service and the Special Investigative Service,  searches are conducted at various addresses, including at the  Yerevan.today portal. Samvel Farmanian made a statement condemning  the search in the editorial office of the portal.