Yerevan—The Heritage Party hereby resents the verdict which the Court of General Jurisdiction of the Shirak marz had made public on 17 February 2011. According to this ruling, in compliance with the petition which the Giumri Town Hall had submitted to the court, the Gala TV’s founder CHAPE LLC is required to disassemble, within one month, the broadcast transmitter and cable that are installed on the television tower located at Giumri’s 6/1 Vazgen Sargsyan Street. This court decision, which has been reached at the current examination phase of this case that has been heard in all instance courts already for the past three years and which the appeals court had reversed in favor of Gala, is yet another heavy blow to the standing and democracy of Armenia and to the thousands of Gala TV viewers’ right to receive unbound and unbiased information. - Not being able to deny Gala TV airwaves by creating various obstacles; - not being satisfied with carrying out, on 23 December 2010 and through the National Council on Television and Radio, their political decision on denying Gala TV airwaves for the next ten years; and - being concerned over even the prospect that, despite the results of the recent television broadcasting “contest,” Gala will be on air with similar means until 2015, which is a serious obstacle standing in the way of the disgraceful and antidemocratic objectives of the joint memorandum that the country’s ruling coalition signed most recently; The Armenian authorities are now attempting to continue their despicable fight against free speech and boundless television, and this time by means of Giumri’s mayor. On 17 February, the parliament and board members of the Heritage Party had met with the mayor of Giumri, Vardan Ghukasyan. And in response to the Heritage representatives’ request that he shy away from disreputable steps, the mayor had stated that he will “go against Gala Television Company until the end.” We therefore demand that these unrestrained operations against free speech be ended forthwith, and urge the authorities that, instead of resorting to such measures which discredit the country, to explore new avenues for increasing the number of broadcast transmissions in Armenia so that the A1+ and Gala TV companies, which were denied of their right to the airwaves in December 2010, can go back on air. We also express our support to Gala TV, which is preparing to appeal the ruling of the Court of General Jurisdiction of the Shirak marz, and we urge the appeals court that it refrain from legalizing the political decisions which are dictated by the authorities.