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  • Armenia: Online editor severely beaten, hospitalised

    IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
    ________________________________________ _________________________

    ALERT - ARMENIA

    1 May 2009

    Online editor severely beaten, hospitalised

    SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York

    (CPJ/IFEX) - New York, April 30, 2009 - The Committee to Protect
    Journalists calls on Armenian authorities to apprehend three assailants who
    attacked Argishti Kivirian, editor of the independent news Web site Armenia
    Today. The unidentified men beat Kivirian early this morning, leaving him
    hospitalized in serious condition, Zhanna Alexanian, president of the
    Yerevan-based organization Journalists for Human Rights, told CPJ.

    "We condemn this brutal attack on Argishti Kivirian and call on Yerevan
    police to swiftly apprehend and punish his assailants," CPJ Europe and
    Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "Independent
    journalists in Armenia, including those working online, have been subjected
    to increased physical violence in the past year. Armenian authorities
    should reverse this trend by investigating and prosecuting to the fullest
    all responsible for today's attempt on Kivirian's life."

    Local press reports and CPJ sources said Kivirian was returning home from
    his newsroom at around 5 a.m., when three men attacked him in the entrance
    to his Yerevan apartment building. The men appeared to have been waiting
    for him, said Alexanian, who spoke to Kivirian's wife, the prominent lawyer
    Luciné Saakian, shortly after the attack. Wielding rubber clubs, the
    assailants hit Kivirian in the head and elsewhere on his body. Kivirian
    struggled with one attacker who brandished a gun, causing the firearm to
    discharge, Saakian told Alexanian. The shots roused Saakian and neighbors,
    causing the assailants to flee, local press reports said.

    Kivirian was taken to a Yerevan hospital where he was being treated for a
    concussion and multiple bruises, the Armenian press reported.

    Armenia Today is an independent Web site that publishes political, social,
    and economic news, along with analyses of current events. In a statement
    published after the attack, Kivirian's colleagues said they were convinced
    the attack was connected to his work and vowed that the site would continue
    operating as usual. Colleagues did not connect the attack to a specific
    piece. Kivirian has not yet spoken publicly.

    CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
    safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit
    http://www.cpj.org

    For further information, contact Nina Ognianova (x106) or Muzaffar
    Suleymanov (x101) at CPJ, 330 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10001, U.S.A.,
    tel: +1 212 465 1004, fax: +1 212 465 9568, e-mail: [email protected],
    [email protected] , [email protected], Internet: http://www.cpj.org/

    The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of CPJ.
    In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit CPJ.
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