The passions surrounding the competition for the vacant position of the director of public radio do not die down, even though the chosen candidate has been in office for more than a month. The court accepted the lawsuit of Lusine Petrosyan, one of the participants of the competition, which means that the decision of the Council of the Public Broadcaster to select the candidacy of Armen Koloyan can be suspended.
“The first claim is to invalidate the two decisions I have listed, that is, the results of the competition to recognize Koloyan as the winner, and the other to appoint Mr. Koloyan as a director. These two administrative acts have been challenged, and the claim regarding this challenge has been admitted to proceedings. That is why we say that the first decision is suspended,” Petrosyan told Azatutyan.
Lusine Petrosyan demands to invalidate the results of the competition and the decision to appoint Koloyan as a director; 8 candidates competed in the public radio competition. At the end of July, the public broadcaster chose Armen Koloyan, who had worked as a journalist at Azatutyun radio station for more than three decades. Lusine Petrosyan received 0 votes and considers that the competition was conducted in violation of Armenian and international norms.
“The first thing that I claim is that there was a violation of the 12th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, discrimination for political opinion, that is, political opinion. That’s the basis on which I contested in general, and on which the proceedings were accepted,” Petrosyan noted.
Lusine Petrosyan writes articles in “Hraparak” newspaper and often criticizes Prime Minister Pashinyan and his team. According to him, his candidacy was not considered precisely because of his political views.
“The second basis is that the order in which the tender was held, the contested tender, does not correspond to the superior legislative acts of Armenia, nor to the decisions of the Government, nor even to the laws, nor to the international practice in general,” he said.
In the second part of the lawsuit, Lusine Petrosyan demanded that the court oblige the Council of the Public Broadcaster to develop a new selection procedure within a month and hold a new competition. – “As far as I know, the court rejected this matter.”
What does it mean when the court accepts the claim? According to the Code of Administrative Procedure, after the lawsuit is admitted to proceedings, the implementation of the contested administrative act is suspended until the judicial act examining the case enters into force. The law also provides for exceptions, for example, when the decision is subject to immediate execution, or when the administrative body has justified in writing that the tenure is necessary in the public interest.
What will the Council of the Public Broadcaster do? Council member Arpi Voskanyan told “Azat” that they received the court’s decision yesterday and are still discussing what to do.
“It takes time for all members of the council to get acquainted with it, to discuss and make decisions and to understand what to do next. I can only say that as far as I managed to get acquainted with the demands presented to us in the lawsuit, they are absolutely groundless,” said Voskanyan.
Arpi Oskanyan denied Lusine Petrossyan’s claim that the council was guided by political predisposition. – “I, as a member of the council, can only say that the political views of Lusine Petrosyan were not discussed at all, and the political views of anyone else were not a topic of discussion.”
Director of Public Radio Armen Koloyan told “Azat” that he continues to hold office and is not aware of legal processes.
“Whoever wants to start a process, I believe that the justice system will make the decision it considers right. I can’t say more. I am not familiar with the content of the claim and legal procedures. If they consider that accepting proceedings means suspension of office, then let them send an official decision, I’m ready to hand over the key and not come to work again,” Koloyan stated.
This is not the only lawsuit against the competition. The former director of Public Radio, Garegin Khumaryan, who left his position with noise, is also preparing a lawsuit to challenge the results of the competition for the director of Public Radio, and demands to restore his violated right.
Khumaryan participated in the previous contest as well, received 0 votes, demanded the resignation of the council.
The noisy story of the competition for the new head of the public radio began when Khumaryan wrote an editorial during his tenure, at the beginning of the year, and opposed Prime Minister Pashinyan.
