Today it is hard to say whether or not the Armenian service of “Radio Liberty” will come to an end. It is only clear thatArmenia's authorities are trying to cease the work of the last free media source that reaches its population.

Since the closing of the “A1+” television station, Radio Liberty is the only source of information that is not influenced from the government circles. RadioLibertyprovides objective information; in its broadcasts it allocates time for the discussion of important developments by representatives ofArmenia's entire political field. Therefore it is difficult to consider it opposed to the government or oppositional. The reporters of the Armenian service of the radio station are doing what in normal countries is desired from any reporter.

The representatives of the ruling Republican Party (Tigran Torosyan, Armen Ashotyan, etc.) are claiming that the proposed legislation has no intention of ending the broadcasts of Radio Liberty. In essence, the matter is not about completely halting the services of the media source. The purpose of these actions is to curtail the availability of Radio Liberty's broadcasts. After having its license for public broadcasts revoked, Radio Freedom can enter into a contract with any FM radio station operating in the capital and any adjacent villages. Thus by losing most of its audience it will now have very limited influence, similar to the newspapers.

This move by the authorities is essentially the answer to those international organizations which rated the Legislative elections that took place in May, as free, fair and transparent, completely ignoring the fact that these elections were prepared and carried out under the conditions of an informational blockade.

The issue is not at all about whether or not opposition politicians who participated in the elections are given an opportunity to express themselves. In the period of time between elections, the media accessible to the people (except for Radio Liberty) do not address questions that are important for the society. There are no reporters who will contribute to the formation of public opinion and political views. Under these conditions those citizens who vote for the ruling parties or and those who vote for the opposition forces, are being guided by either time-serving private gains, small and large, or by personal sympathies.

Last Friday, Human Rights Watch declared that the Armenian Parliament should not adopt two draft bills that would effectively ban future broadcasts of Radio Liberty, a key source of independent information in the country. It also reminded thatArmeniahas undertaken obligations by signing the European Convention on Human Rights, article 10 of which guarantees the right “to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.”

It appears that having the publicly broadcasting Radio Liberty as the primary free source of information was sufficient to carry out free, fair and transparent elections. But now the democracy is in danger and as theUScharge d'affairs inArmenia, Anthony Godfrey has hinted, the future of the “Millennium Challenge” program is also at risk.