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The Charade Continues: Reporters Have Little Reason To Trust The Pol

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  • The Charade Continues: Reporters Have Little Reason To Trust The Pol

    THE CHARADE CONTINUES: REPORTERS HAVE LITTLE REASON TO TRUST THE POLICE

    Ararat Davtyan

    16:17, October 1, 2013

    In October of 2012, Armenia's Police Depart organized a three day
    conference in the resort town of Tzaghkadzor for its employees and
    reporters.

    "Please help us in doing our work. We are your brothers, not
    outsiders," entreated Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan in his sales
    pitch to the gather members of the press.

    Ever since Armenian independence 22 years ago there have been
    countless attacks and violations against reporters and sadly,
    most have gone unresolved. The culprits have never been punished
    for their deeds. And the few cases that have been exposed and made
    it to trial in the courts, can only be said to have been "exposed"
    with serious reservations.

    Vladimir Gasparyan has inherited a vast legacy of such unexposed
    cases. "Have you ever gone back and looked anew at those cases?" Hetq
    asked the Police Chief after the conference had ended.

    "No I haven't. It never occurred to me. There's so much on my plate,"
    Gasparyan answered and directed the head of the Police department's
    Press Office to remind him about all those unsolved cases.

    "When we finish solving our current caseload, we'll take a look at
    the backlog," added Gasparyan.

    This, perhaps, is the most sincere confession uttered from the lips
    of the Chief of Police. Solving cases of assault and other violations
    against reporters has been placed on the back-burner in Armenia.

    Police chiefs come and go, but the overall picture in the country
    remains the same.

    In the same conversation with Hetq, Vladimir Gasparyan also noted
    that during his tenure as the top cop, assaults against reporters
    "haven't yet occurred". 'Yet' is the operative word, and all we can
    do is wait and see.

    In general, attempts to disrupt reporters doing their work and acts of
    violence against them spike during election cycles. This year was no
    exception. We had the presidential election in February and Yerevan
    Municipal Council elections in May.

    Election Violations

    On presidential Election Day February 18, Narine Ismail, a young
    woman volunteering at the Transparency International-Armenia NGO as
    an election monitor for European Rights Coalition NGO and reporter
    Artak Hambardzumyan, a representative for the Reporters for Human
    Rights NGO, raised the alarm about ballot stuffing in Ararat Polling
    Station 17/05. Some 25-30 young men had entered the polling station and
    several of them pushed the monitor and reporter up against the wall,
    grasping their hands, so that they couldn't take photos or videotape
    the ballot stuffing.

    The Constitutional Court declared the election results from this
    polling station null and void. A criminal case was launched, headed
    by the Special Investigative Service (SIS). During the preliminary
    examination, Narine Ismail told Hetq about the pressure exerted on
    her by law enforcement. Transparency International-Armenia issued a
    statement on the matter and U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern
    announced that he was following the case with great attention.

    Investigator Gorik Hovakimyan split the case and filed charges against
    27 year-old Sergey, the son of Artashat Mayor Gagik Mouradyan. The
    SIS found that on Election Day Sergey, as the proxy of President
    Serzh Sargsyan, entered the polling station with a group of others
    and assaulted monitor Narine Ismail, restricted her movement and
    prevented her from taking photos, thus hindering her in the execution
    of her work.

    The statement released by the Prosecutor General Office notes,
    "According to evidence received before the trial, Sergey Mouradyan
    also aided unidentified individuals in stuffing the ballot box."

    However, during the court procedure Prosecutor Harutyun Harutyunyan
    declared that the charges against the accused would be dropped,
    given the lack of evidence that he participated in the violation
    that occurred.

    Thus, months later, on July 26, presiding judge Gagik Sargsyan of the
    Ararat and Vayots Dzor Provincial Court found Sergey Mouradyan (who
    works as a first degree legal specialist at the Legal Consultation
    Division of the National Assembly's Department of Expertise)
    not guilty and exonerated. The SIS halted the other section of the
    criminal case, arguing that the identity of the other culprits could
    not be ascertained.

    Iravunk newspaper reporter Elmira Martirosyan declared that on Election
    Day, February 18, at polling station 17/01 in Ararat Province, she
    was hindered from carrying out her work by election proxies.

    At polling station 17/04, New York Institute of Photography
    correspondent Tzovinar Nazaryan was hindered from her work by Tigran
    Virabyan, President of the local election committee and head of
    the Ararat Provincial Government's Department of Agriculture and
    Environmental Protection. Virabyan yelled at the reporter "like a
    hysterical person", threatening her by saying, "I'll kill you".

    That same day the websites asparez.am and aravot.am reported that
    reporters Marine Petrosyan and Nune Arevshatyan were threatened at
    Gyumri polling station 35/22. 168.am and aravot.am also reported that
    reporters Marine Martirosyan and Hripsime Djebejyan were hindered
    from working at polling stations 9/27 and 9/28 in Yerevan's Nor
    Gyugh neighborhood.

    Nevertheless, none of these incidents made it past the examination
    stage, on the basis of a "lack of a crime".

    The Police also failed to find evidence of a "corpus delicti" in the
    case of reporters Gayane Saribekyan and Marine Kharatyan with the
    newspapers Hraparak and Zhamanak. On Election Day, near the campaign
    headquarters of the Republican Party in Yerevan's Metaks neighborhood,
    the two reporters approached a group of some 10-15 individuals,
    asking to know what was going on. The group cursed the reporters and
    tried to snatch their photo equipment.

    During an interrogation at the SIS, it was revealed that Hakob
    Beglaryan, younger brother of Transportation and Communications
    Minister Gagik Beglaryan, was one of those actively hindering the
    reporters. On March 15, the SIS dropped the case.

    The situation was the same during the Yerevan Municipal Council
    elections. On April 23, while covering a campaign stop of Taron
    Margaryan (number one candidate on the Republican Party ballot),
    ilur.am reporter Hakob Karapetyan was assaulted. In addition to
    being roughed up, they hindered his professional work by snatching
    his camera and erasing the photo file.

    Based on the findings of an internal investigation, Police Chief
    Vladimir Gasparyan issued a disciplinary warning to a cop that was
    at the scene but failed to intervene. The cop's immediate supervisor
    was issued a severe reprimand and a police officer serving as the
    deputy head of the Nor Nork branch was dismissed. It seemed that Ashot
    Papayan, a Republican Party member in the Yerevan Municipal Council,
    would also be punished. Papayan was the "hero" of the day since he
    assaulted the reporter. It took the Police two months to state that
    there was evidence of a crime in what Papayan had done. On July 20,
    he publicly expressed regret for his actions and asked for forgiveness.

    Four days later, law enforcement dropped the case on the grounds that
    the parties had reconciled.

    May 5, the day when elections took place for the Yerevan Municipal
    Council, was also replete with reporters being prevented from carrying
    out their work and the police failing to find any "corpus delicti".

    On that day, the police received a report that voters in the Arabkir
    4/02 polling precinct were being bused in to cast their ballots. Local
    election committee President Samvel Gzlaryan, a member of the ruling
    Republican Party, refused to provide any comment to news outlets and
    yelled at reporters on the scene. Heritage Party proxy Lala Arzumanyan
    claimed that Gzlaryan was hindering reporters from doing their job.

    Samvel Zakharyan, president of election committee at the 7/14 polling
    station in the Haghtanak neighborhood, shoved a Hetq reporter out of
    the building for not having proper press I.D. At the 7/05 polling
    station, a reporter from Kentron TV was barred from entering the
    building after failing to produce a certain document from the Central
    Electoral Commission. At polling station 8/08, Republican Party
    candidate Gevorg Manoukyan, using a proxy I.D., disrupted the work of
    reporters and monitors. Later that night, after the polls closed, a
    reporter from the newspaper 168 Zham was barred from entering polling
    station 07/34 to witness the vote count. At polling station 6/23,
    an Aravot newspaper reporter was not permitted to take photos.

    Violations outside the electoral process

    The incidents listed above are just a portion of the violations that
    occurred. During the current year there have been other incidents,
    outside the electoral process, where violations have occurred
    against reporters. In certain cases, the police manifested a degree
    of follow-up, but on the whole, even these illusions of concern were
    quickly shattered.

    With certain reservations, the case regarding photo-journalist Gagik
    Shamshyan can be added to the list of exceptions. On January 30 of this
    year, Rustam Sahakyan and an unidentified friend, hindered Shamshyan
    from reporting from the Traffic Police's auto impound center. The two
    assaulted the reporter and verbally abused him with sexual expletives.

    The Police sent the case to court, charging Rustamyan with hooliganism
    and issuing verbal threats of violence. (The case is still pending).

    Charges against his unidentified friend were dropped.

    On May 8, Hetq reporter Ani Hovhannisyan received a call from a cell
    phone registered in Russia. The caller threatened her, saying that if
    she continued to poke her nose in places where she shouldn't, it would
    turn out bad for her and her family members. For a while, the police
    took steps to safeguard Hovhannisyan's security. A criminal case was
    launched. Based on transcripts provided by a telephone provider in
    Armenia of the calls made and received by the cell phone number in
    question, five citizens and four witnesses were questioned. After
    all this, the case hasn't passed the preliminary examination stage.

    On March 1, Vorotan newspaper editor Arevhat Amiryan published an
    article claiming that Samvel Tangyan, head of the Syunik Provincial
    Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, had issued
    threats against him and his family regarding an earlier publication.

    "Arevik, I will destroy you and your family", was the alleged threat.

    An inquiry conducted by the Syunik Investigative Unit found the lack
    of corpus delicti and the case was dropped.

    In certain cases of reporters being assaulted, the investigative
    service of the Defense Ministry or the Military Police got involved.

    But the modus operandi of law enforcement in these cases as well
    remained the same.

    On May 18, the relatives of a soldier who had died in a military unit,
    tried to take the corpse to Yerevan in a sign of protest. At a road
    checkpoint placed on the Sevan-Yerevan Highway, the police stopped
    all cars ferrying reporters to the spot where the dead soldier's
    relatives had blocked traffic. The cops later assaulted the reporters
    and seized their recording equipment, arguing that they had received
    an order from above to prohibit any photographing.

    According to the statements made by the news outlets, individuals in
    uniforms and plainclothes used force to seize and break the camera
    equipment belonging to a crew from Kentron TV. The damaged equipment
    was later returned and the video erased. Members of the Military Police
    also used force to seize the video camera of Lragir.am correspondent
    Siranoush Papyan. They erased whatever she had recorded up till then. A
    camera crew from Yerkir Media had their memory card confiscated. It
    was later returned after the police chief intervened.

    The Sevan branch of the Gegharkunik Police assembled case materials
    that were handed over to the Gegharkunik Provincial Prosecutor's
    Office. From there the case file was to go to the Defense Ministry's
    Investigative Branch. But the case was dropped at this point
    since law enforcement claimed they couldn't identify anyone to
    charge. The Ministry's Investigative Branch also rejected launching
    an investigation on the same basis.

    On May 30, Henaran.am correspondent Lusine Ghazaryan stated that
    she was assaulted near her home by Ministry of Defense Major Arkady
    Lazarian. Ghazaryan alleged that the major verbally abused her and
    tried to beat her, but was stopped when neighbors intervened. The
    reporter also said that Lazarian shoved her son down the stairs.

    The next day, according to the reporter, the Nayri Police Chief
    returned her written complaint, advising her to amicably resolve the
    matter without police intervention. In the end, the case was handed
    over to the Kotayk Unit of the Defense Ministry's Military Police.

    Lusine Ghazaryan told Hetq that the Abovyan Military police launched a
    criminal case, but that it was dropped a week later. The reason given
    was that no injuries had been documented and that verbal assault wasn't
    a criminally prosecutable crime. Ghazaryan says that law enforcement
    failed to take into account the premeditated nature of the incident
    and that they didn't interview witnesses.

    On May 19, Maxinfo.am founder Babken Haroutyunyan issued a statement
    alleging that he was assaulted two days earlier when he visited the
    village of Kanachout in Ararat Province. Haroutyunyan says he went
    there to photograph the palatial home of presidential advisor and
    former Police Chief Alik Sargsyan. After photographing the house,
    he says he was assaulted by Alik Sargsyan's brother Andranik.

    A forensic exam was scheduled and the case material was forwarded
    to the Ararat Investigative Unit. But the case was rejected on the
    grounds that there was no evidence that a crime had been committed.

    On September 2, a woman participating in a counter demonstration
    at Yerevan's Covered Market verbally insulted and threatened Radio
    Liberty reporter Nane Sahakyan. The incident was caught on tape.

    Sahakyan reported the incident to Deputy Police Chief Valery Osipyan
    who was on the scene. Osipyan then approached the woman in question
    and said, "This citizen alleges that you have threatened her. Please
    refrain from voicing such threats."

    The Police later informed Hetq that they had received no formal
    complaint. When asked if the tape recording wasn't sufficient proof,
    the Police Department's Press Office repeated the same argument -
    "No one filed a formal complaint. We haven't received any."

    Nane Sahakyan says the entire incident was an attempt to hinder her
    job as a reporter. She stated, "I wasn't interviewing that woman
    (Karine Sargsyan), but a woman standing next to her." Sahakyan
    confessed that she hadn't filed a complaint in order not to waste
    time or get stressed out.

    On September 4, news outlets reported that police scuffled with
    activists and reporters near the Presidential Palace. Activists
    gathered across the street to protest Armenia's decision to join the
    Customs Union. Some of the demonstrators had approached the gate and
    were standing there peacefully when they were forcefully shoved back
    by the police.

    Some of the protestors then sat down in the middle of the street and
    a few were arrested.

    Regarding the incident, Epress.am wrote that the cops also prevented
    journalists from covering the event, violently shoving them so that
    they couldn't photograph those who had been detained. The news outlet
    says that the police pushed their reporter and other press members
    on top of the protestors sitting in the street. "They encircled the
    reporters and didn't let them out," Epress.am wrote.

    The Yerevan Department of Investigations failed to launch a criminal
    investigation of the incident.

    http://hetq.am/eng/news/29757/the-charade-continues-reporters-have-little-reason-to-trust-the-police.html


    From: Baghdasarian
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