On June 19 the head of a number of diplomatic missions accredited in
Armenia, international and local journalistic organizations have addressed
an open letter to the newly-elected Speaker of the RA National Assembly
Arthur Baghdasarian. Copies of the letter were sent to the RA President
Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Andranik Margarian, Minister of Justice
David Harutiunian, the senior officials of the law-and-order bodies and
judicial authority, NA deputies, media.

The letter says:

"Dear Mr. Speaker,

As you are aware, a number of international organizations and NGOs, monitor
the situation with regard to human rights protection in Armenia. The
ratification by Armenia of the European Convention on Human Rights in April
2002 demonstrated an acceptance of the fundamental importance of respect for
human rights, including freedom of expression, and a willingness to abide by
the standards of the Convention.

It is in this context that we, the undersigned, would like to bring to your
attention our concern with regard to a number of provisions in the new
Criminal Code, which in our view seriously threaten freedom of expression in
Armenia. (The Code was adopted by the National Assembly on April 18, 2003
and endorsed by the President on 30 April.)

Articles 135 and 136 of the mentioned document make libel and insult
criminal charges, providing for up to 3 years of imprisonment among other
types of punishment.

Article 318 of the Criminal Code provides a fine from 200-400 minimum
salaries to up to 2 years imprisonment for an insult directed towards an
official representative in the mass media, in publications or public speech.
Thus, the Criminal Code ensures more protection for public officials than
for ordinary citizens (for insult of the latter the punishment envisages a
fine of 100-200 minimal salaries).

We would hope that you share our view that libel and insult should be
decriminalized and that legal solutions should be found in the field of
civil, not criminal, law. Or, at least, the Code should not provide for
imprisonment.

In light of the above we, the undersigned, once again express our concern
with regard to these specific articles of the newly adopted Criminal Code.
It is our view that amendments need to be made to these articles in the Code
and we stand ready to co-operate with the National Assembly in addressing
this issue."

The open letter was signed by the head of OSCE Office in Yerevan (also on
behalf of the Office of OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media), the
heads of the embassies of the UK, Germany, the USA, Italy, Romania, Poland
in Armenia, representatives of Eurasia Foundation, Open Society Institute
Assistance Foundation-Armenia, Article 19, Armenian Representation Office of
American Bar Association, Yerevan Press Club, Association of Investigative
Journalists of Armenia, Internews Armenia, ProMedia, Media Law Institute,
Caucasus Media Institute.