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"YOU ARE LIKE GANGSTERS" READ COUNT:
February 20 2013
The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MP says to journalists Aravot has
already informed that on the night of the election day, on the night
of February 18-19, an incident happened in the administrative district
of Erebuni, Yerevan, between reporters of Aravot and www.panorama.am
and a youth who had come out of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
office, during which Aravot's camera was damaged.
Journalists had gone to the administrative district of Erebuni tracing
the alerts received from the Heritage Party office; then we decided to
get clarification from the district office of the RPA, as well as to
get answers to questions regarding the electoral processes in general.
The calculation at polling places had started three hours before that.
By the way, the RPA district office was in the vicinity of the
neighborhood administration, on the third floor of an administrative
building that belongs to the city hall. When we visited the office
there was a gathering of cars of the Jeep family. While we were
trying to get to the third floor, where the office was, two youths
were inquiring who we were. Finding out that we were journalists,
they overran us, got into the office and locked the door from inside.
Apparently, something was going on inside, and it wasn't clear why
they didn't allow us to enter. Naturally, curiosity was great, and
we were knocking on the office door for quite a while, hoping that
someone will respond, nonetheless. A few minutes after, a youth came
out of the office and in response to our questions what was going on
inside, why they had locked the door, he tried to take the camera away
from the journalist of www.aravot.am, talking brusquely and using bad
language. The youth claimed that there was no one in the office; the
office manager was not in the office. However, a few minutes later,
Mher Sedrakyan, the RPA MP elected from the administrative district
of Erebuni and a former head of that neighborhood, came out of the
office accompanied by a few people. In response to our questions why
the office door had been locked, what they were hiding, Sedrakyan first
said very calmly that they had nothing to hide. Then when we tried to
find out, clear up why his employee had behaved so arrogantly, Mher
Sedrakyan started, to put it mildly, to accuse journalists. We are
presenting the dialogue between Mher Sedrakyan and the journalists
without comments: * Why is the youth trying to impede journalists'
work? * But what are you going to ask? * Perhaps, we can come in;
we just wanted to ask about numbers. Did you see how your employee
was behaving? How that guy who has just gone downstairs behaved? *
Perhaps, it was the guard, right? * Does a guard have so many powers
to force journalists out of here? * I don't know who has what powers;
neither you nor we have so many powers. * We don't excel our powers.
We also behave politely. It is just that the electoral process is under
way, we had to come and ask you to tell us the numbers. * We don't
have concrete numbers yet.... * Perhaps, you could invite us in....
* Ugh, I am telling you to come in, and you are standing on the stairs
and brawling. * We are not brawling, Mr. Sedrakyan. * Then what are
you doing? I am telling you to come in, and you are standing there
and scrapping with me. You are like gangsters. Come in. Andranik
Manukyan, the Armenian ambassador to Ukraine, a former minister and
MP, Eduard Madatyan, a former Rule of Law Party (RLP) minister, and
many youths were in the office too. Andranik Manukyan, knowing the
reporter of Aravot personally, tried to settle the issue, after which
Mher Sedrakyan promised to find and punish the youth who had shown
an arrogant attitude toward journalists. "We will not punish him in
your presence, because it will be too much for you. You don't restrain
yourselves. If you don't behave so impudently, we will do everything,"
Sedrakyan said, pretending that he hadn't heard the observation that
we had behaved as journalists without any unnecessary steps. After
all that, Sedrakyan was trying to convince that we "are in safe hands."
Other details
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/02/20/152388/
February 20 2013
The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MP says to journalists Aravot has
already informed that on the night of the election day, on the night
of February 18-19, an incident happened in the administrative district
of Erebuni, Yerevan, between reporters of Aravot and www.panorama.am
and a youth who had come out of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
office, during which Aravot's camera was damaged.
Journalists had gone to the administrative district of Erebuni tracing
the alerts received from the Heritage Party office; then we decided to
get clarification from the district office of the RPA, as well as to
get answers to questions regarding the electoral processes in general.
The calculation at polling places had started three hours before that.
By the way, the RPA district office was in the vicinity of the
neighborhood administration, on the third floor of an administrative
building that belongs to the city hall. When we visited the office
there was a gathering of cars of the Jeep family. While we were
trying to get to the third floor, where the office was, two youths
were inquiring who we were. Finding out that we were journalists,
they overran us, got into the office and locked the door from inside.
Apparently, something was going on inside, and it wasn't clear why
they didn't allow us to enter. Naturally, curiosity was great, and
we were knocking on the office door for quite a while, hoping that
someone will respond, nonetheless. A few minutes after, a youth came
out of the office and in response to our questions what was going on
inside, why they had locked the door, he tried to take the camera away
from the journalist of www.aravot.am, talking brusquely and using bad
language. The youth claimed that there was no one in the office; the
office manager was not in the office. However, a few minutes later,
Mher Sedrakyan, the RPA MP elected from the administrative district
of Erebuni and a former head of that neighborhood, came out of the
office accompanied by a few people. In response to our questions why
the office door had been locked, what they were hiding, Sedrakyan first
said very calmly that they had nothing to hide. Then when we tried to
find out, clear up why his employee had behaved so arrogantly, Mher
Sedrakyan started, to put it mildly, to accuse journalists. We are
presenting the dialogue between Mher Sedrakyan and the journalists
without comments: * Why is the youth trying to impede journalists'
work? * But what are you going to ask? * Perhaps, we can come in;
we just wanted to ask about numbers. Did you see how your employee
was behaving? How that guy who has just gone downstairs behaved? *
Perhaps, it was the guard, right? * Does a guard have so many powers
to force journalists out of here? * I don't know who has what powers;
neither you nor we have so many powers. * We don't excel our powers.
We also behave politely. It is just that the electoral process is under
way, we had to come and ask you to tell us the numbers. * We don't
have concrete numbers yet.... * Perhaps, you could invite us in....
* Ugh, I am telling you to come in, and you are standing on the stairs
and brawling. * We are not brawling, Mr. Sedrakyan. * Then what are
you doing? I am telling you to come in, and you are standing there
and scrapping with me. You are like gangsters. Come in. Andranik
Manukyan, the Armenian ambassador to Ukraine, a former minister and
MP, Eduard Madatyan, a former Rule of Law Party (RLP) minister, and
many youths were in the office too. Andranik Manukyan, knowing the
reporter of Aravot personally, tried to settle the issue, after which
Mher Sedrakyan promised to find and punish the youth who had shown
an arrogant attitude toward journalists. "We will not punish him in
your presence, because it will be too much for you. You don't restrain
yourselves. If you don't behave so impudently, we will do everything,"
Sedrakyan said, pretending that he hadn't heard the observation that
we had behaved as journalists without any unnecessary steps. After
all that, Sedrakyan was trying to convince that we "are in safe hands."
Other details
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/02/20/152388/