The Commission on Television and Radio of Armenia has suspended the broadcasting license of the radio station Tospa, which broadcasts the programs of the Russian propaganda media Sputnik (Sputnik Armenia), for one month.
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Administrative proceedings against the radio station began on December 17, after Tigran Keosayan's original program Friday with Tigran Keosayan was aired. Keosayan is the husband of the editor-in-chief of the Russian propaganda TV, RT, Margarita Simonyan.
According to the drawn-up protocol, Keosayan referred to Armenia and its people in mocking and humiliating terms, and made such statements that he had no moral right as a political commentator and presenter of a foreign country. According to the commission, calls for actions prohibited by law were also voiced during the broadcast.
According to Sputnik, Keosayan voiced a number of harsh and critical opinions of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the program, accused him of betrayal, and asked whether he really thinks that he will stay alive after this betrayal. Sputnik writes that the commission considered these very words to be a call to violence.
According to the materials of the second administrative proceedings, in the program Abovyan Time, such opinions were expressed that not only do not correspond to reality, but also clearly sow panic among the population of Armenia. Also, it was observed that unreliable or insufficiently reliable information from unverified sources was broadcast during the program. In this part, the commission fined the radio station 1200 dollars.
The lawyer of the radio station, Simon Fagradyan, does not agree with the decision of the commission, as he told Sputnik, if this continues, they will reach the point of censorship in Armenia.
“They say that Keosayan allowed ironic comments, humiliating the honor and dignity of the country and its people, but the addressee of his words was a specific individual. This is not a question of national honor and it is up to that person to decide whether what was said was offensive to him or not; he can file a lawsuit under the Civil Code. As to the claim as if Arman Abovian spread false information in his program, here too, he simply expressed his personal opinion,” says the lawyer.
Relations between Armenia and Russia have deteriorated recently. Yerevan accused Moscow and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) of inaction in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In September of this year, the chief of staff of the Prime Minister of Armenia, Arayik Harutyunyan, said that the Russian mass media are waging a “hybrid war” against Armenia. He also named Margarita Simonyan and Tigran Keosayan, who are originally from Armenia, among the "worst" propagandists on Russian TV channels.
In October, despite warnings against it from Russia, the Armenian parliament ratified the Rome Statute, which means that Armenia will have the obligation to arrest Putin if he enters the territory of this country.
