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In recent days, a number of news websites have been making remarkable publications. The published news articles contain not only explicit disinformation, but also violations of media ethics.
Thus, without any special occasion, politik.am website has referred to former Justice Minister Hovhannes Manukyan, making threats in his address.
First, the author of the article (there is no name mentioned) recalled Manukyan’s resignation (2015), then mentioned the personal reasons for it, adding that he/she would advise not to speculate on that topic, otherwise he/she would have to publish “the real causes of his resignation”.
With regard to the threats to publish “the real causes of Manukyan’s resignation”, it should be noted that personal data is protected by law, and the threat of publishing them is punished by the same law.
However, the article does not end here. Political scientist Hayk Martirosyan is targeted in the second part of the publication.
“Our next “revolutionary” hero is Hayk Martirosyan, former adviser to former Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, a person who introduces himself as a political scientist …” the website writes.
Then, referring to “his/her own sources”, the author spreads disinformation.
“Hovhannes Manukyan used to sell paintings in the US through Hayk Martirosyan. According to our sources, there is even a criminal history related to the paintings sold by them in the US, and the RA Minister of Justice has appeared in the spotlight with his friend, and we cannot exclude that they will be prosecuted too.”
First of all, it should be noted that the US law-enforcement system is a closed structure, and the criminal cases filed there are secret. The authors of the article could not have had such information at all, even by their “sources’ claim”.
Moreover, in order to check the facts, we contacted the political scientist who denied that information. According to Martirosyan, he has not been prosecuted and has never engaged in selling paintings with the former minister.
By the way, the political scientist also mentioned that he worked for Hovik Abrahamyan’s advisor for only 23 days.
At the end of the publication, the author expresses the following hope “We hope the new government will do everything to keep these people exploiting the revolution and the March 1 victims’ issue for personal reasons away from power levers.”
A few days later the same site published another article, which, in addition to subjective assessments and manipulation, revealed the purpose of the previous publication.
“… Our task was not to campaign against him [Martirosyan], but to prevent the people who served the prominent representatives of the former system from making their way to the new system.”
Former Minister of Justice Hovhannes Manukyan, referring to politik.am, has made a pretty remarkable statement on his Facebook page, hinting that the website is financed by Hovik Abrahamyan.
Rafael Afrikyan
