Journalists who went to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to cover the previously announced open sessions today could not carry out their work and professional duties. The bailiffs of the Judicial Department prevented them from entering the sessional hall of the Supreme Court of Justice, where the decisions on disciplinary responsibility against a number of judges were to be publisized.
The bailiffs who formed a protective wall, sometimes raising their voices at the journalists, forbade them to go up to the meeting hall, arguing that the seats were full and there was no place to sit.
Although the seats in the meeting hall were initially taken by employees of the Judicial Department and close friends of Karen Andreasyan and his team, because an hour before the start of the first session scheduled at 11:00, no journalist who went to the SJC saw a crowd at the entrance of the SJC building, however, according to the journalists, they were ready to go up to the meeting hall and cover the session standing up, but the Judicial Department was adamant. And this is in the case when the journalist was not just a spectator, and the Department was obliged to ensure unimpeded access of the journalists who came to work in the SJC to the meeting hall.
The Union of Journalists of Armenia strongly condemns the case of deliberately obstructing the work of journalists in the SJC of the Republic of Armenia without sufficient grounds.
In the near future, I am going to contact the RA Prosecutor General Anna Vardapetyan regarding the apparent fact of obstructing the work of journalists in the SJC of the Republic of Armenia.
President of the Union of Journalists of Armenia
Satik Seyranyan