Lawyer: Armenian court declares search at Armat Media illegal

ArmInfo.  The Armenian Criminal Court of Appeals has ruled the search conducted at Armat  Media, owned by Aleksan Aleksanyan, a member of the political council  of the "Strong Armenia" bloc, to be illegal, as announced by lawyer  Lianna Gasparyan on her Facebook page. 

She recalled that the publication's activities were paralyzed just  two days before the parliamentary elections in Armenia, at a crucial  stage, restricting not only the work of journalists but also the  public's right to comprehensive and complete information. "The  Criminal Court of Appeal of Armenia has recognized the search as  illegal, noting a violation of the rights of media owner Aleksan  Aleksanyan. You can silence the press, but you cannot do the same to  the truth," the lawyer wrote.

Recall,  law enforcement officers raided the media outlet's office  following the detention of Aleksanyan.  According to Editor Nelly  Avetisyan, security forces seized the editors' computers, which  allegedly contained video footage from shoots. Specifically, the hard  drives held materials and investigative research concerning the risk  of "the resettlement of 300,000 Azerbaijanis into Armenia." Avetisyan  expressed her conviction that the searches were carried out to  prevent the outlet from sharing this information with the public  ahead of the country's parliamentary elections.