INTERVIEW

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Correspondent: Mr. Jaskernia, your report on Armenia sparked scepticism in Armenia toward CE. The thing is that your report doesn’t reflect the real situation in Armenia. What is your report grounded on?

Jaskernia: Among positive steps made by Armenian authorities, such as death penalty abolishment, there were the CE demands Armenia hasn’t complied with. A number of problems are still waiting for their solution. Constitutional reforms, media-related issues, particularly A1+ one, are among them. The draft report is due to be discussed in the CE. If the opposition has some proposals, they can be taken into consideration. We need to present an objective report on situation in Armenia.

Correspondent: Are you sure the positive steps mentioned in your report were made in fact?

Jaskernia: Situation in Armenia is very complicated. Political forces say different things and it is so difficult to find out the truth. When we receive information from Robert Kocharyan, we can’t say that it doesn’t correspond to facts. We have met also Stepan Demirchyan, Artamshes Geghamyan and other opposition activists. We are not the authorities’ or the opposition’s microphone.

Correspondent: Who have you met in Armenia to get an idea about the situation in mass media area?

Jaskernia: There are many media-related problems in Armenia, but A1+ TV Company’s one is the most important. We are told A1+ is the most respectable TV Company.

Correspondent: A1+ has participated in 10 tenders since it was stripped of its broadcasting license in 2002 and each time the company has been denied license from Radio and Television National Commission. The CE demands to create conditions to resume the company’s broadcasting. But not a single step has been done so far. What can you say?

Jaskernia: I met with the president, PM and the commission chair and asked them why they didn’t want the company to broadcast. They said members of the commission are to be replaced with other ones in the nearest future. They can have another opinion about A1+.

Correspondent: As you know, the commission members are always being appointed by the president. It is obvious that new members of the commission will take the same stance on A1+.

Jaskernia: I have spoken on A1+ and will speak in the future, as it is very important issue. Now we can’t say about new members’ stance, because they aren’t still appointed.

Correspondent: How can you have the right idea about A1+ if you don’t remember whether you have a meeting with the head of A1+ or not while many times have met with the commission chair Amalyan.

Jaskernia: Every time I tour Armenia I spend only 5 or 6 days there. It isn’t possible to know about everything within these days.

Correspondent: You said in your report that those responsible for violence committed against rallies’ participants and journalists had already answered for that. Not a bit of it. Where did you get this information from?

Jaskernia: We got the information from Armenian opposition. Vutova gave the information.