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Authorities Urged To Pardon Jailed Journalist With Brain Tumour

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  • Authorities Urged To Pardon Jailed Journalist With Brain Tumour

    AUTHORITIES URGED TO PARDON JAILED JOURNALIST WITH BRAIN TUMOUR

    Reporteros sin Fronteras
    http://www.rsf.org/spip.php?page=article &id_article=34039
    Reporters Without Borders
    July 31 2009

    Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the refusal of the Armenian
    authorities to release journalist Arman Babajanian(photo Armtown.com)
    on health grounds. Held since 2006, Babajanian has been diagnosed as
    having a brain tumour. His condition recently worsened and he is now
    in a prison hospital. He is in the process of losing his sight and
    needs urgent hospitalisation.

    "We are extremely shocked by the attitude of the authorities, who
    have turned a deaf ear to the appeals of doctors and human rights
    activists," Reporters Without Borders said. "Babajanian has nearly
    completed his sentence so we fail to understand why they insist on
    keeping him in prison. His condition is serious and the tumour could
    leave him handicapped for life."

    Reporters Without Borders has written to President Serzh Sargsyan
    urging him to pardon Babajanian.

    Babajanian has been held since 26 June 2006, when he was arrested on a
    charge of evading military service under article 327 of the criminal
    code. The three-and-a-half-year sentence he received was condemned
    at the time by Reporters Without Borders as "disproportionate". He
    is due to complete it at the start of September. All of his lawyer's
    requests for early release have been rejected.

    The founder and editor of Jamanak Yerevan, a daily published in
    Yerevan and Los Angeles. Babajanian was critical of the government. An
    article published in the newspaper on 13 July 2006, two and a half
    weeks after his arrest, referred to the highly sensitive subject of
    Armenia's dispute since 1994 with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the
    Upper Karabakh region. It was headlined "Peace is the only solution."

    An opposition demonstration was held under the banner of "Freedom!" in
    Yerevan on 29 July to demand Babajanian's immediate release.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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