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Punishment Or Persecution?: Case Against Opposition Paper's Journalist Viewed By Many As Crackdown On Free Speech
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
06.02.12 | 11:45
Last Friday's controversial arrest of a pro-opposition newspaper's
journalist has raised questions and suspicions among the country's
media community that it might be a retribution for his critical
reporting against the chief of the national police force.
Hayk Gevorgyan, a 45-year-old deputy editor for the Haykakan Zhamanak
daily, is accused of a hit and run and police say he has not complied
with their request to come for questioning. Meanwhile, the paper's
chief editor and opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) activist
Nikol Pashinyan as well as most media organizations and human rights
activists describe the case as persecution connected with Gevorgyan's
professional activities.
To prove Gevorgyan's guilt police released a video on which a
middle-aged man, identified as Ashot Frangulyan, tells how the
journalist hit him while backing out of a parking lot on January 13,
leaving him with a broken foot and a concussion. The man says the
journalist would not even respond to his calls for help, but instead
yelled at him and threatened to call police.
On Sunday Haykakan Zhamanak chief editor Pashinyan held a press
conference during which he claimed the police video was "fabricated".
He said that a correspondent of the newspaper talked to Frangulyan, who
said that he did not sustain any fracture nor had a brain concussion,
but that he hit his head against a rock.
Earlier, Pashinyan insisted that Gevorkyan had been arrested upon the
instruction of Armenian police chief Vladimir Gasparyan. Recently,
the paper wrote about an incident in which Gevorgyan was stopped
by a police officer and asked why he did not attach his mandatory
car insurance coupon to the windshield. Gevorgyan then said that
he kept it inside his car, but would attach to the windshield only
after Gasparyan did the same on his car. Further, at a recent press
conference Gevorgyan put some unpleasant questions to Gasparyan and
then published a story critical of the police chief.
The controversial circumstances surrounding the case led parliamentary
factions to seek explanations whether police are entitled to declare
a search for a person who did not try to escape. At least two
parliamentary factions, Heritage and Dashnaktsutyun, said they would
demand that police release the journalist while the investigation is
on. (Gevorgyan was released on Monday after the expiration of the
72-hour period for preliminary detention. He has been confined to
country limits while the investigation is on).
"The man is in jail because of his ideas and political position. The
case with a journalist is even worse because it is obstructing a
journalist's professional activity, which is a criminal offense,"
said Heritage faction member Zaruhi Postanjyan.
Another question that some media and human rights organizations have
raised in the context of the story is why it took police so long to
"track down" a person who attended press conferences and published
stories on a daily basis and even attended a session of the government
during the period from January 23 (when police say a search for
Gevorgyan was announced in connection with the January 13 incident).
President Serzh Sargsyan refused to speak on the case of Gevorgyan
before a court decision, which he said he hoped would be made soon.
Meanwhile, the country's journalistic community is also waiting
for further developments in the case. In the meantime, opinion are
voiced on different online social networking sites that another wave
of arrests of journalists not liked by the government may start in
Armenia in the run-up to the May parliamentary elections and that
this will be done through "trumped-up" cases. Online chat rooms have
also described the case with Gevorgyan as the demonstration of force
by the police chief who does not like being told what to do.
Whether a matter of law or freedom of speech, the case against
journalist Gevorgyan is likely to become a political matter as well,
since the main opposition ANC is likely to incorporate it in its
future parliamentary campaign. The opposition is likely to address
the issue also at its next rally in Yerevan scheduled on February 17.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
06.02.12 | 11:45
Last Friday's controversial arrest of a pro-opposition newspaper's
journalist has raised questions and suspicions among the country's
media community that it might be a retribution for his critical
reporting against the chief of the national police force.
Hayk Gevorgyan, a 45-year-old deputy editor for the Haykakan Zhamanak
daily, is accused of a hit and run and police say he has not complied
with their request to come for questioning. Meanwhile, the paper's
chief editor and opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) activist
Nikol Pashinyan as well as most media organizations and human rights
activists describe the case as persecution connected with Gevorgyan's
professional activities.
To prove Gevorgyan's guilt police released a video on which a
middle-aged man, identified as Ashot Frangulyan, tells how the
journalist hit him while backing out of a parking lot on January 13,
leaving him with a broken foot and a concussion. The man says the
journalist would not even respond to his calls for help, but instead
yelled at him and threatened to call police.
On Sunday Haykakan Zhamanak chief editor Pashinyan held a press
conference during which he claimed the police video was "fabricated".
He said that a correspondent of the newspaper talked to Frangulyan, who
said that he did not sustain any fracture nor had a brain concussion,
but that he hit his head against a rock.
Earlier, Pashinyan insisted that Gevorkyan had been arrested upon the
instruction of Armenian police chief Vladimir Gasparyan. Recently,
the paper wrote about an incident in which Gevorgyan was stopped
by a police officer and asked why he did not attach his mandatory
car insurance coupon to the windshield. Gevorgyan then said that
he kept it inside his car, but would attach to the windshield only
after Gasparyan did the same on his car. Further, at a recent press
conference Gevorgyan put some unpleasant questions to Gasparyan and
then published a story critical of the police chief.
The controversial circumstances surrounding the case led parliamentary
factions to seek explanations whether police are entitled to declare
a search for a person who did not try to escape. At least two
parliamentary factions, Heritage and Dashnaktsutyun, said they would
demand that police release the journalist while the investigation is
on. (Gevorgyan was released on Monday after the expiration of the
72-hour period for preliminary detention. He has been confined to
country limits while the investigation is on).
"The man is in jail because of his ideas and political position. The
case with a journalist is even worse because it is obstructing a
journalist's professional activity, which is a criminal offense,"
said Heritage faction member Zaruhi Postanjyan.
Another question that some media and human rights organizations have
raised in the context of the story is why it took police so long to
"track down" a person who attended press conferences and published
stories on a daily basis and even attended a session of the government
during the period from January 23 (when police say a search for
Gevorgyan was announced in connection with the January 13 incident).
President Serzh Sargsyan refused to speak on the case of Gevorgyan
before a court decision, which he said he hoped would be made soon.
Meanwhile, the country's journalistic community is also waiting
for further developments in the case. In the meantime, opinion are
voiced on different online social networking sites that another wave
of arrests of journalists not liked by the government may start in
Armenia in the run-up to the May parliamentary elections and that
this will be done through "trumped-up" cases. Online chat rooms have
also described the case with Gevorgyan as the demonstration of force
by the police chief who does not like being told what to do.
Whether a matter of law or freedom of speech, the case against
journalist Gevorgyan is likely to become a political matter as well,
since the main opposition ANC is likely to incorporate it in its
future parliamentary campaign. The opposition is likely to address
the issue also at its next rally in Yerevan scheduled on February 17.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress