Security staffers drive journalist out of NA building 

ArmInfo. The employees of the State Security Service (SSS) of Armenia took journalist Vahe Makaryan by the arms and forcibly took him out of the National Assembly building.   The incident occurred on June 13 during a meeting of the  parliamentary standing committee on defense and security during the  discussion of the resonant legislative initiative on "buying off" the  army, when the SSS employees demanded that the journalist leave the  NA building without giving a reason.

The chairman of the committee, Andranik Kocharyan, in turn, called on  the journalist to come out and understand what was going on. "Perhaps  there is some problem because of which you are being asked to leave,"  he said.

MP of the Hayastan faction Gegham Manukyan retorted: "Vahe Makaryan,  as a journalist, wants to participate in the committee meeting. The  head of the staff says that Vahe has no right to be on the territory  of the National Assembly" (the MP gave him a pass).

After leaving the meeting room, Makaryan addressed the SGO employees,  noting that there is no clause in the NA Rules prohibiting him from  being in the commission meeting room.

"This is none of my business, please contact the staff," the security  service employee said.

Then they twisted Makaryan's arms and led him out of the NA building.

According to Makaryan himself, the speaker of parliament, Alen  Simonyan, is behind this.

Earlier, on November 4, 2024, the editorial staff of the news website  Mediahub.am received a letter from the head of the NA staff about the  termination of the accreditation of the media correspondent Vahe  Makaryan in the parliament. The reason was the scandalous clash  between the NA Speaker Alen Simonyan and Vahe Makaryan on October 31,  which a number of media outlets addressed. According to media  publications, when the journalist approached the speaker of the  parliament for a comment in the NA building, their conversation,  which began with jokes, eventually resulted in mutual accusations,  and then in a squabble using street language. 

The conflict was stopped with the intervention of security service  officers. Makaryan appealed the deprivation of accreditation in  court. For his part, the NA Speaker filed three lawsuits against the  journalist, demanding the seizure of property and accounts belonging  to the journalist.