Armenia’s leading independent television station that was pulled off their air
three years ago said on Friday it will resist eviction from its premises after
losing a court battle with their owner, the National Academy of Sciences.



“I am not going to leave this building [willingly],” Mesrop Movsesian, the
director and owner of the A1+ TV company, told RFE/RL. “Let the bailiffs clear
the premises and throw us out, stop our newspaper and our web site.”



The Armenian Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a ruling by a lower court
ordering A1+ to vacate its editorial offices in central Yerevan which it has
leased for more than 10 years.



The government-funded Academy says it needs the office space to accommodate the
staff of its two research institutes that were relocated last year from another
building handed over to the Armenian Apostolic Church.



A+ demands a compensation for $32,000 which it claims to have invested in the
property and points to an earlier agreement with the Academy leadership. But
Academy officials say the agreement was never officially certified and therefore
has no legal force.



Movsesian and his staff insist that the eviction order is part of a government
effort to perpetuate the de facto ban on the only Armenian channel that often
criticized President Robert Kocharian.



A1+ was forced off the air in April 2002 after a controversial tender for its
broadcasting license that was granted to a newly created pro-government company.
The move was condemned by local and international media groups as a serious blow
to press freedom in Armenia.



A1+ has since tried to remain afloat by producing programs for regional
television stations, publishing a weekly newspaper and running an online news
service. Its repeated attempts to receive a new air frequency were blocked by a
regulatory commission appointed by Kocharian.



The once popular channel will have 20 days to vacate the premises after the
verdict’s entry into force or face forcible eviction.

By Karine Kalantarian