YEREVAN. – Media in Armenia has been sued in total for $300,000 last year, public activist, head of Gyumri Asparez press-club Levon Barseghyan said on Wednesday at the session of Euronest Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society held in Yerevan.

The assembly includes delegates from EU, as well as six post-soviet states.

Lawsuits were mainly filed against press and some Internet news portals, he added.

To note, provisions on libel and slender were removed from the Criminal Code and added to the Civil Code, which brought forth in sharp increase of lawsuits by influential figures against opposition newspapers. The Constitution Court recognized the legislative amendments constitutional last year and called on the journalists to respect human dignity. In the meantime, the Court called on judges to approve lover compensation for the libel.

Calling to pay attention to the fact that European MPs reminded necessity of freedom of speech, Barseghyan recalled the opposition channel A1+, which was closed in 2002 and never permitted to broadcast again.