Two very courteous police officers just arrived at ArmNews TV, which belongs to Quartet Media, and we have been talking to them for about 20 minutes. This is what one of the shareholders of Quartet Media, former deputy of the National Assembly Samvel Farmanyan said live on Facebook.

“The police said they had come to the TV station since administrative proceedings have been instituted on the ground that one of the TV station’s TV commentators hadn’t worn a face mask during a news broadcast. We told the police officers to show us a legal document stating that TV personalities have to wear face masks on air. The police officers showed us a list of the safety rules presented by the Commandant’s Office as a ground, but those safety rules concern prevention of the spread of COVID-19 during the implementation of economic activities in offices,” Farmanyan said, adding that he told the police officers that the chairman of the National Commission on Television and Radio had clarified that wearing masks is not mandatory for TV hosts, if social distancing is maintained and asked if police had instituted administrative proceedings against other media outlets, to which the police didn’t give any answer.

“As one of the shareholders of Quartet Media, I unequivocally announce that we are dealing with a prelude to the inacceptable restrictions on the freedom of media. The institution of any type of administrative proceedings, especially when even police officers can’t show the legal norm that serves as a ground for that, is the inacceptable attempt of the government to create obstacles for media outlets,” Farmanyan said.