ArmInfo.The Department of Information and Public Relations of the Prime Minister's Office issued a message according to which only accredited photojournalists will be allowed to visit the Armenian Genocide Memorial (Tsitsernakaberd) during the government's wreath-laying ceremony on April 24, since the ceremony will be of a protocol nature.
The press is allowed to attend only after the government ceremonial part has passed. On this occasion, the Union of Journalists of Armenia issued a statement in which it called such a decision shameful, unacceptable and unprecedented.
According to the SJA, this is another noisy, shameful and unprecedented attempt on the part of the current authorities of Armenia to limit access to information and prevent the media from fully performing their professional activities. With this unacceptable decision, the authorities show their fears and, most importantly, their attitude towards the work of the media and journalists.
The statement notes that this is not the first time the press has been denied access to such events. On January 28 of this year, on the occasion of the formation of the Armenian Army, the authorities rudely prohibited journalists from entering the Yerablur military pantheon. "Such steps by the government of the country, which declared itself a "bastion of democracy," and especially the consistent nature of these steps, indicate a violation of democratic values, including, first of all, unbridled measures directed against freedom of speech and the press.
The Union of Journalists of Armenia strongly condemns this anti-democratic behavior of the government and demands an immediate review of this decision regarding the press and allowing media representatives to freely cover the events of the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide without time restrictions.