OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović expressed concern over the June 26, 2014 ruling of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash Administrative Districts of Yerevan made behind closed doors, which requires Hraparak newspaper and iLur.am news portal to reveal their news sources.

“I am concerned that this ruling might have a chilling effect on media as it could thwart reporting on issues of public interest. The need for journalists’ professional confidentiality with public and private sources of information must be acknowledged,” Mijatović said.

Mijatović said that the right of journalists to protect the identity of sources is a key principle of investigative journalism and the OSCE has repeatedly declared it as a basic requirement for freedom of expression.

According to Anna Israelyan, the editor of the online version of Aravot newspaper, this response by the OSCE was expected.  

“I assumed that the international response would be like this. But I have to say, our court did everything to prevent this development: in its legal analysis it even alluded to precedent decisions of the European Court, which, in fact, contradicted the court’s decision. I’m happy that this trick of the court’s didn’t succeed, and it was followed by this response by the international [community],” she said. 

On June 26, within the scope of a criminal case involving Shirak District Police Chief Vardan Nadaryan, the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash Administrative Districts of Yerevan mandated Hraparak newspaper and iLur.am to reveal their information sources. 

On May 9, the news outlets had published an article on an argument between Nadaryan and athletes and brothers Artur and Rafael Aleksanyan, which stated that during the argument, Nadaryan struck Rafael’s head with the firearm assigned to him, then held the gun to Artur’s chest. 

Investigator Garik Begoyan made a motion in court to reveal the news outlets’ source, arguing that disclosing Hraparak and iLur.am’s sources might help to obtain confirming or refuting evidence regarding the alleged serious crime in the case. He said that the need for the legal protection of public interest in this case weighed more than the public interest in not disclosing the information source. The court granted the investigator’s request. 

Following the court’s decision was Asparez Journalists’ Club Chair Levon Barseghyan’s statement [AM] that he was the one who conveyed the information to the news outlets. 

The court asked a journalist to reveal her source also in 2002, when journalist of then news website Taregir, current deputy editor of 168.am news portal Lilit Seyranyan wrote that the family of Poghos Poghosyan who was killed by former president Robert Kocharian’s bodyguard at Aragast cafe was offered money to withdraw its complaint. 

Poghos Petrosyan’s brother Andranik Poghosyan launched a lawsuit against Taregir website. The court obliged the journalist to either reveal her source or retract the news. The news outlet was forced to retract its story. 

“I am unequivocally against the disclosure of information sources. I can use my example: a journalist cannot reveal her source — this is an objectionable demand. This right is provided for also by international convention. And if this decision of the court’s is a way to put pressure on news outlets, it’s very bad,” said Seyranyan.   

According to Anna Israelyan, every time she or her colleagues at Aravot are asked to reveal their sources, they cite Article 5 of the Law of the Republic of Armenia on the Dissemination of Mass Information:

Article 5: Protection of Sources of Information
1. The persons implementing media activity and the journalists shall not be obliged to disclose their sources of information, with the exception of the cases set forth in the 2nd part of this Article.
2. The implementer of media activity or a journalist can be obliged to disclose the source of information by the court decision, in the course of a criminal proceeding with the aim of revealing heavy or most heavy crimes, if societal interest in law enforcement overweighs the societal interest in protecting the sources of information, and all other means to protect public interest are exhausted. In such cases, at the petition of the journalist, the court proceedings can be held in camera.

In the last two instances, when the police [AM] and the defense ministry [AM] asked Aravot to reveal its news source, reference to the law helped. But in this last instance, the case made it to the courts, and this is what concerns the local and international journalism community. 

Anna Barseghyan