Armenian media bodies condemn beating of journalist

Arminfo
29 Oct 04

YEREVAN

The Armenian committee to protect freedom of speech, the Yerevan Press
Club and the union of Armenian journalists have condemned the beating
up of Vardevan Grigoryan, editor-in-chief of Aragats Ashkhar
newspaper.

According to a statement forwarded to Arminfo, the organizations are
demanding that the law-enforcement agencies conduct an impartial
investigation into the incident and bring the culprits to book. The
statement notes that ”this is already the second incident of this
kind in October involving representatives of the regional media, while
the atmosphere of impunity generates new crimes that also affect
Armenian regions”.

We should recall that the head of the fire department, Gagik
Barsegyan, and his deputy Nraz Aloyan violently beat up Grigoryan in
the village of Tsakhkaovit of Aragatsont Region on 27 October for
publishing an article entitled “Poor firemen, they have nothing”,
which criticized the firemen for their actions during a fire at a
villager’s home. Incidentally, this is not the only attack on the
editor of the regional newspaper because a similar incident happened
five years ago when an administrative punishment was meted out to the
culprit.