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Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan has come under fire for disrespectful behavior towards Vahe Makaryan, a reporter for the news website MediaHub.

The journalist accused the speaker of insulting him and his media outlet during their conversation in the parliament on October 31. The argument heated up to the point that the journalist feared that Simonyan would use violence against him as the latter’s bodyguards held his hands. However, according to Makaryan, it was them who resolved the situation.

“I have been covering the work of the National Assembly for more than 10 years when several speakers of the parliament have been replaced, but I have never witnessed disrespectful attitude by any of them towards a journalist regardless of their political views, activities and criticism against them,” the reporter told MediaHub TV on Monday.

“Hovik Abrahamyan, Galust Sahakyan, Ara Babloyan... none of them used derogatory language against reporters, restricted their work by all possible means or ordered their bodyguards to grab their hands,” Makaryan stated.

The journalist said he was “shocked” when Simonyan’s bodyguards held his hands, waiting for the speaker’s next move. He recalled an incident in which the speaker spat at an opposition activist in central Yerevan in April 2023.

Vahe Makaryan has been stripped of his parliamentary accreditation following the incident.

“In all probability, we will challenge the decision in court because the grounds they presented are simply ridiculous. Alen Simonyan decided to strip a reporter of accreditation to apparently please Nikol Pashinyan, showing that he stood up for him,” the reporter added.