At May 6 sitting of the National Assembly, the NA draft resolution on creating a parliamentary ethics committee regarding the conduct of the National Assembly deputy Andranik Kocharyan authored by the Armenia and With Honor RA NA Factions debated.
It is proposed to set the number of members of the Ad Hoc Committee at 5, and the term of office at up to two months.
According to the key rapporteur Taguhi Tovmasyan, there was need to submit the draft resolution on examining the NA deputy’s behaviour in the NA corridor on March 20, 2025. According to her, the deputy Andranik Kocharyan has displayed evident disrespectful attitude towards Hripsime Jebejyan. The Armenia and With Honor factions considered it necessary to create an NA Ad Hoc Ethics Committee to examine the deputy’s behaviour and issue a conclusion to exclude the repetition of such behaviour.
The member of With Honour Faction Taguhi Tovmasyan also referred to certain provisions of the laws on the Activities and Guarantees of a Deputy of the National Assembly and on Mass Media, which related to ensuring the professional activities of journalists and their rights.
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“We are against the creation of an ad hoc committee, we call for a focus on forming a permanent, legally established and institutional committee, with the participation and trust of everybody,” Alkhas Ghazaryan informed, conveying the opinion of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs. It was noted that it is set forth by the law the NA Rules of Procedure that the number of the members and the composition of the committee is formed in proportion to the number of deputies included in the factions, which is why the committee will not be functional, since it will be a majority committee.
In their speeches, the deputies spoke about the effective implementation of journalists’ rights and responsibilities, the unacceptability of journalists spreading hate speech, and a number of other problems existing in the sphere.
“We initiated the process based on the signatures of Hripsime Jebejyan and other journalists. This is a parliamentary tool, and we will use this tool and try to make Jebejyan’s demand come true by all possible means,” the Head of With Hopnor Faction Hayk Mamijanyan documented, presenting the viewpoint of the Faction.
The Secretary of the Armenia Faction Artsvik Minasyan, the political majority justifies intolerance, violence, and hatred towards the opposition, and moreover, is not ready to discuss the illegal behavior of a person who is part of their power.
“You have turned the issue of ethics into a coin of political struggle, while in the Republic of Armenia we defend and will defend democracy, freedom of speech, journalists have and will have maximum freedom to carry out their professional activities, and the evidence of this is not yours, but the annual reports of relevant international organizations,” The Head of the Civil Contract Faction Hayk Konjoryan underscored.
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