“In 2004 Metalex LLC and Mesrop Movsisyan submitted a claim against the Republic of Armenia to the European Court of Human Rights, according to which they were rejected for seven times to be issued a certificate during the period between May 2002 and December 2003. Till now the A1+ has submitted 12 claims to this court. The A1+, which was the only TV company out of the control of the government, was deprived of air in April 2002 when the TV and Radio Commission (TRC) appointed by the president refused to issue a license. The TRC failed to explain the reasons of refusing and continued to refuse to issue a license to the mentioned TV company. On June 17, 2008 the European Court of Human Rights made a decision, according to which Armenia had violated the 10th article of the Human Rights European Convention. Thus Armenia has violated the right for freedom of speech by refusing to issue a license. The court made a decision to charge 20.000 Euro from the government in favor of the founder of the TV company Meltex LLC as a compensation against moral loss. The government shall pay more 10.000 Euro to cover the court expenses (this money has been fully paid). This was the European Court’s 6th decision against Armenia.
