As we have already informed, Strasbourg hosts the conference on “Freedom of Expression: still a precondition for democracy?” organized by the Council of Europe. The experts, officials, representatives of judicial system and journalists arrived from different countries to Strasbourg focus on current challenges: terrorism, government pressures, online challenges, dissemination of hate speech and offend. The conference was also attended by Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland. One of his main concerns is that no adequate conditions for freedom of press are ensured in one-third of CoE member countries.
At the end of the first day of the conference, Aravot.am interviewed Mr. Jagland. As we have already informed, we first of all discussed with Mr. Jagland the issue of violence against the Armenian journalists during the coverage of protests against the electricity price hike, and then the issue of the preparation of the report on Nagorno-Karabakh for the PACE. We asked Mr. Jagland whether he is not concerned about the fact that a report is being prepared about Nagorno-Karabakh but the rapporteur – the British delegate Robert Voltaire has not even visited Nagorno-Karabakh. Thorbjørn Jagland did not particularly like this question, so he replied briefly, “We have no role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Both sides should reach an agreement.” To our observation that the resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh is prepared at the PACE, Mr. Jagland again refrained for giving a specific answer, noting that does not represent the PACE.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
