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MEDIA GROUPS DEMAND JOURNALIST'S RELEASE
Anush Martirosian
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2059226.html
01.06.2010
Armenia -- Ani Gevorgian, a journalist with "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily,
moments before her arrest, 31May 2010.
Armenia's leading media associations demanded on Tuesday the immediate
release of a young reporter who was arrested while covering an
opposition protest in Yerevan.
The Armenian police alleged earlier in the day that Ani Gevorgian,
a 23-year-old correspondent for the pro-opposition daily "Haykakan
Zhamanak," assaulted a police officer during a confrontation on
Sunday between security forces and opposition activists trying to
enter Yerevan's Liberty Square.
Gevorgian was detained, along with more than a dozen oppositionists,
during a similar incident that occurred there on Monday. One of her
lawyers, Lusine Sahakian, told RFE/RL's Armenian service that she is
accused of hitting a policeman in the face.
"Ani Gevorgian did not hit anyone," said Sahakian. "We think that she
was deprived of her freedom because of her journalistic activities."
"Just how a 23-year-old woman could have used force against police
officers remains unclear," six Armenian media groups said in a joint
statement. They demanded that the Armenian police immediately release
her and punish "the policemen who exceeded their legal powers."
Armenia -- Haykakan Zhamanak daily's director Anna Hakobian (R)
and editor Hayk Gevorgian hold a news conference, 1June 2010.The
statement, also signed by two other civic groups, further condemned
the brief detention of two other journalists during Monday's use
of police force against several dozen supporters of the opposition
Armenian National Congress (HAK).
For its part, "Haykakan Zhamanak" denounced its reporter's prosecution
as an act of "personal revenge" by the chief of the national police,
Alik Sargsian. The newspaper's managing editor, Hayk Gevorgian,
linked it to a recent article in which she ridiculed a promotional
police video broadcast by Armenia's leading television stations.
"Ani found that the clip was very ineptly duplicated from a similar
video produced by the Georgian police and that the whole purpose of
the clip was to advertise Alik Sargsian," he told a news conference.
Armenia's best-selling daily newspaper, "Haykakan Zhamanak"
has long been at loggerheads with the authorities. Its outspoken
editor-in-chief, Nikol Pashinian, is currently serving a highly
controversial three-and-a-half-year prison sentence which he received
in January for his alleged role in the 2008 post-election unrest
in Yerevan. The HAK and local human rights consider Pashinian a
political prisoner.
From: A. Papazian
Anush Martirosian
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2059226.html
01.06.2010
Armenia -- Ani Gevorgian, a journalist with "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily,
moments before her arrest, 31May 2010.
Armenia's leading media associations demanded on Tuesday the immediate
release of a young reporter who was arrested while covering an
opposition protest in Yerevan.
The Armenian police alleged earlier in the day that Ani Gevorgian,
a 23-year-old correspondent for the pro-opposition daily "Haykakan
Zhamanak," assaulted a police officer during a confrontation on
Sunday between security forces and opposition activists trying to
enter Yerevan's Liberty Square.
Gevorgian was detained, along with more than a dozen oppositionists,
during a similar incident that occurred there on Monday. One of her
lawyers, Lusine Sahakian, told RFE/RL's Armenian service that she is
accused of hitting a policeman in the face.
"Ani Gevorgian did not hit anyone," said Sahakian. "We think that she
was deprived of her freedom because of her journalistic activities."
"Just how a 23-year-old woman could have used force against police
officers remains unclear," six Armenian media groups said in a joint
statement. They demanded that the Armenian police immediately release
her and punish "the policemen who exceeded their legal powers."
Armenia -- Haykakan Zhamanak daily's director Anna Hakobian (R)
and editor Hayk Gevorgian hold a news conference, 1June 2010.The
statement, also signed by two other civic groups, further condemned
the brief detention of two other journalists during Monday's use
of police force against several dozen supporters of the opposition
Armenian National Congress (HAK).
For its part, "Haykakan Zhamanak" denounced its reporter's prosecution
as an act of "personal revenge" by the chief of the national police,
Alik Sargsian. The newspaper's managing editor, Hayk Gevorgian,
linked it to a recent article in which she ridiculed a promotional
police video broadcast by Armenia's leading television stations.
"Ani found that the clip was very ineptly duplicated from a similar
video produced by the Georgian police and that the whole purpose of
the clip was to advertise Alik Sargsian," he told a news conference.
Armenia's best-selling daily newspaper, "Haykakan Zhamanak"
has long been at loggerheads with the authorities. Its outspoken
editor-in-chief, Nikol Pashinian, is currently serving a highly
controversial three-and-a-half-year prison sentence which he received
in January for his alleged role in the 2008 post-election unrest
in Yerevan. The HAK and local human rights consider Pashinian a
political prisoner.
From: A. Papazian