YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
NOVEMBER 12-18, 2004
HIGHLIGHTS:
PERSPECTIVE
LEVON GRIGORIAN: “THEY TRIED TO KILL ME FOR BEING A JOURNALIST”
FOURTH “PRESS CLUB” SHOW
JOURNALISTS AND POLICEMEN GATHERED AT A ROUND TABLE
CHANGES AT “YERKIR-MEDIA”
PERSPECTIVE
LEVON GRIGORIAN: “THEY TRIED TO KILL ME FOR BEING A JOURNALIST”
On April 12, 2004 the demonstration and rally by the National Assembly
organized by the opposition political forces in Yerevan ended with a
dispersal of the participants. At about 00:30 the street illumination was
switched off in Baghramian avenue, and at 2 o’clock in the morning the
sit-in of the demonstration participants was dispersed by the power
structures using special devices – water jets, explosive bags, rubber
bludgeons, electroshockers. Among those injured were four journalists who
were covering the events. Criminal proceedings were instituted on a number
of incidents that happened to the media representatives. Seven months have
elapsed, but to this day no one has been punished for beating journalists.
Moreover, attempts are made to throw the events of that notorious night into
oblivion or to present them from a lighter perspective. This is the reason
why we decided to give a detailed narrative of what happened to cameraman,
currently acting head of the bureau of the First Channel (ORT) in Yerevan
Levon Grigorian, as he tells it himself.
– The First Channel TV company assigned me to prepare a report about the
night rally. 15-20 minutes before the start of the well-known events I
arrived closer to the place of the sit-in and started to shoot. The
situation was so calm that I thought it was about to be over. Then I felt
the silence come down – a very strange kind of absolute silence. And I saw
that the one layer of barbed wire is being removed. I thought, thanks
Heaven, if they are removing it, it means it is truly over. Then a water jet
came up to the first line of enclosure with no sound and threw a mighty
water stream on people. People certainly got mad; they stood up and started
throwing stick and plastic bottles at the car behind the barbed wire. The
car went on with its job, undisturbed. I thought again that this should be
the end: being soaking wet, the people would disperse. And then soldiers
started to appear from two sides. Again, no one expected any provocation,
since they remained behind the wire. Suddenly they started throwing
explosive bags, and from the side of the pass desk of the National Assembly,
that is, the side that the rally participants were on, within an instant
special troops jumped out, electroshock devices in their hands, blocking the
whole street. People became actually trapped, there was only a narrow
passage left on the opposite part of the sidewalk. And the massacre started.
I was standing with my camera by the first line of the enclosure and was
shooting what was happening, then I crossed the street and started to
retreat towards the Opera House with the crowd. Then all of a sudden four
civilians attacked me out of the crowd and tried to snatch my camera away.
– Had they addressed you before that in some way, like saying “stop the
shootings, do not shoot”?
– No, they simply attacked me from behind, and it was unclear who these
people were. The special troops were wearing either helmets, or red caps. As
a war cameraman I went through practically the whole war in Karabagh, and so
among the red-capped troopers I saw a couple of guys I knew: they advised me
to get away as soon as possible. But these four civilians were simply trying
to take my camera away from me, a scuffle started. I was holing the camera
with one hand, and was trying with my leg and my other arm to fight them
back. But it is very difficult to fight back four people when you are alone
and are carrying a heavy professional camera on your shoulder. One of these
four, a short one, came from behind and gave me as strong a punch on my nose
as he could. It started bleeding, I lost my sense of direction but still did
not let the camera go. Then these four dragged me out to the roadway, where
the special troops were operating. People in helmets ran up to me, I think,
there were six or seven of them, and they started to punch me with
electroshockers all over.
– You did not faint?
– No, but you know, when you are stricken with electroshock on your arms,
sides, legs, these parts of your bodies get paralyzed for some time. These
special troop guys did see some civilians attack me – a person with a
professional camera bearing a label of the First Channel, dressed in a
cameraman’s jacket, and they exerted no violence against these civilians but
started to beat me instead. I fell down, the civilians took the camera and
left, while the special troopers continued to beat me. They were in helmets
with visors and I could not see faces. They continued beating me on the
asphalt by bludgeons and legs, paralyzed as I was. When the effect of the
electroshock started to weaken, I was trying to rise, they again used the
shockers, preventing me from doing so, and went on beating me again with
bludgeons and legs.
– Were they telling you anything?
– I only heard one voice, who was shouting all the time: “Do not look at
me!”, then they threw my jacket on my face. And the kept swearing because
my blood was spilling on their clothes. Besides someone was constantly
spraying gas into my eyes for me not to see anything. I do not know how long
it all lasted, but then I heard someone say: “OK, that’s enough, he is about
to kick off, leave him alone.” And they took me by my shoulders, dragged me
on the sidewalk like a piece of rug and left under a tree. When the pain
became somewhat duller, I thought – I don’t have my camera, I don’t have my
mobile phone, I do not have my things. And I started to look for my things
crawling on my knees.
What makes me all the more insulted is that having gone through all of
Karabagh war as a war cameraman, when the country is at peace, I was simply
doing my job, I was not making public disorder or anything else, yet, I was
beaten, and not simply beaten – they were trying to kill me. They were not
really choosing some spots that would be less painful or less vital, they
were striking wherever they could, without giving much thought to it. I have
stripes left by the bludgeons. What for?
– Could they be trying to kill you simply because you were a journalist?
– I have no other explanation to this now.
– What happened next?
– Then the ambulance arrived. You know, I am a Caucasian, and I took all
that happened as an insult. I could have properly resisted, if attacked by
one person, face-to-face, but when you are assaulted like this… I was so
mad that when the ambulance stopped – apparently someone said there was a
dead body lying under the tree – and the doctor came up to me, I remember
starting swearing at him. He said: “Say whatever you feel like saying, but
let me examine you.” I looked like a jumble of flesh and blood. They
provided the first aid to me, then looked for my things with me and put me
into the car. There were several people sitting in the ambulance, I remember
a woman who was stricken on the leg with a bludgeon so hard that she could
not walk. I refused to go to the hospital and asked to be taken to our
office to be able to contact Moscow. My clothes were shred into pieces, I
had blood and water all over me, and my clothes, as if to spite me, were
brand new on that day. And here I probably made a huge mistake. When I was
visited by my colleagues from “A1+” TV company in my office, I did not allow
them to shoot me looking like that. I was embarrassed. But the life came to
prove again that it is purely a show, and one must act by its rules. If I
had allowed the shootings, no questions would arise later. I only allowed
shooting my jacket. I made a call to Moscow, told them what happened, that I
was deprived of the camera, the tape, everything and I have no story to send
them in the morning. Then I went home, had a shower, came back to the office
and in an hour or so I felt bad. I was taken home. I could never imagine
that one can swell because of beatings, and here I started to swell myself.
In the morning I could not move at all. I called the Arabkir Police
Department and reported the incident. I introduced myself immediately,
saying I am a staff member of the First Channel. In some 15 minutes three
policemen came to my place and filed a charge-sheet. They said I had to
undergo forensic examination. And, as far as I remember, I managed to go for
an examination with the help of my friends. I was X-rayed, and so on. It
appeared my nose had been broken, my right arm, with which I was holding the
camera during my fight with the civilians, was seriously injured. I had some
other numerous injuries, too.
– Were you given the official results of the forensic examination?
– No, I was told that no such document can be given to the injured party, it
is included into the case, and only an extract from it can be obtained from
the Prosecutor’s Office. Luckily, I have the copies of the papers I got when
I was being examined. I knew who I was dealing with and I made copies for
myself just in case.
On April 14 I was telephoned from the Arabkir Police Department and was
told: “Your camera has been found, it is at the press-center of the RA
Police.” The camera was broken, it certainly had no tape. The whole problem
started because of the tape. I had the camera on all the time when attacked
by civilians.
– Were you given explanations as to how the camera had been found?
– What I was told sounds like a joke. I was told that several unknown people
had found the camera in the bushes and handed it over to the police. A
professional camera that costs several thousands of dollars… Anyway… I
am grateful that my camera was found so fast, my mobile and other things
were found and returned, too. I was probably luckier than my other
colleagues who were injured, as far as I know some of them had been returned
nothing to this day. I was lucky in terms of being a Russian correspondent,
because of which special attention was given to my case. The Interior
Minister of Russian Federation sent a paper to the Russian Foreign Office
for my case to be undertaken urgently. A representative of the Russian
Embassy in Armenia had a meeting with me.
>From the very start, when I addressed the Arabkir Police Department, the
charge-sheet on what had happened was made on three pages, but then, when
the case was transferred to the General Prosecutor’s Office and was taken
under the personal control of the General Prosecutor, a detailed report was
produced. The investigation was conducted in a very polite manner, with no
pressure. I was repeatedly summoned for testimony. This is understandable, I
told them everything just like I am telling you now.
– Have you been asked, say, to identify those four civilians?
– Certainly. But I cannot identify them. They were very sudden in attacking
me, they came from behind, I can only remember vaguely that the one who
punched me on the nose was short, and one of them was fat, wearing a black
jacket and a black cap. I remember nothing more. But look what happens here.
If they were civilians, it means they possibly were the rally participants.
But why would they hand me over to the special troops?! I cannot identify
the guys from the special troops, either: their faces were hidden. I was
called afterwards from the President’s Office and from the Parliament, I was
asked whether I could identify anyone. The investigators say, if only you
could identify anyone, because there is actually no one specific to be
charged. So it looks like my case is a dead-end? I am telling them – guys,
who is going to compensate the material damage, the camera is expensive. I
am not even speaking about the moral damage, one can hardly consider it in
our state. The answer is – our task is to find those guilty, and if we do
find them, the court is to decide who is going to compensate the damages.
– What do you know about the progress of the investigation today?
– Almost nothing. I made an official enquiry with the General Prosecutor’s
Office. They told me that the investigation is underway.
– So the case has not been dismissed, the investigation continues.
– It looks like that. But who is responsible for all this? I do not know.
But I am very insulted to be treated like that in my country, at peace,
when doing my work. I am often told – you are lucky not to be killed.
– How probable do you think the disclosure of the case is?
– The probability is equal to zero, there are no chances whatsoever. Because
I am asked: “Can you recognize their faces?” No. So if I cannot identify
anyone that is how it should be?!
– Is it possible that if no specific people responsible are found, the guilt
will be placed on the structure they are affiliated with?
– Of course no. What happened is outrageous, it is outrageous that
journalists can be treated like that. There are many ways to prohibit the
work of a journalist. Just come up, say, you cannot shoot here, take the
tape away, but not killing me simply for making shootings…
– During the days that followed the events in April one high-ranked official
said it was necessary for journalists to wear special uniform to be
distinguished from the crowd, so that in similar situation the law
enforcement bodies were able to differentiate journalists from other people.
Let us assume, even though it sounds like science fiction, that those who
were beating you, both the civilians and the special troopers, did not
realize you were having a professional camera, did not see the label of the
First Channel on it. If you had a uniform on, that would not leave any
doubts that you are a journalist even at night, you would not be treated the
same?
– I am more than sure that I would. Those who were beating me, I heard them
say – so you are shooting for Moscow, we’ll show you how to shoot. And the
paradox of the situation is that my TV company, the First Channel, is
extremely sympathizing with the Armenian authorities, and they were trying
to kill me, the representative of this channel.
– What can be done to protect the journalists from violence?
– Look, on April 5 cameras were broken, the next time they started a
massacre. What comes next? We have had broken cameras, we have had beaten
journalists. Do killed journalists come next? I was very moved by the
attention of my colleagues on those days. There were phone calls from
everywhere… But if all the journalists, regardless of what media they work
for, simply as people united by this profession would stand up and say for
even one day: we are stopping our work protesting against being killed,
maybe something would change.
– Do you believe such solidarity is possible in Armenia?
– Unfortunately not. Although I would very much like to believe in it. But
similar incidents can happen to anyone else tomorrow. And to prevent it, we
probably need to be united. You know, I do not want to say some loud words,
I am not a public person. I am not used to giving interviews, I am used to
being on the other side of the camera. But dismissing one case, then the
other, we will come to the third case. It will surely be more terrible that
the previous two, ending, thanks God, without deaths. If we leave all this
unpunished, this third case, when the hands are completely untied, will be
awful.
– Aren’t you scared to go on working?
– Not at all. The words “facing the death” may sound too pompous, but I went
through all the Karabagh war from the very start and I really did face
death. I covered events in Georgia, the whole rose revolution, all the
events in Ajaria. That is, I have huge experience in working at “hot spots”.
But to be caught like that, to be abused like that in your own country… It
is not a matter of being hurt, I feel very insulted.
PS. Cameraman Levon Grigorian or Leva the Big, as his friends and colleagues
call him for his height and powerful stature, was born in 1957 in Yerevan.
He has been working for television since 1980. Throughout his almost 25-year
career Levon Grigorian worked for the only state television during the
Soviet times, then – for the first private TV company “A1+”, collaborated
with “Vesti” newscast of the Russian RTR channel, with BBC, SkyNews, CNN. He
has been employed by the First Channel since 1993.
The fist “hot spot” in his life and profession was Karabagh. “In 1988, when
the conflict was just starting, I registered as a member of volunteer
troops. But I soon understood that it was not for me, I cannot kill people.
I came back to Yerevan, took the camera and since the earliest days of the
war I worked in Karabagh. I started with the coverage of situation in
Shahumian district. It was sieged at that time, and it was there that
Azerbaijanis started to use “Grad” bombing emplacements at night for the
first time. We thought it very important to shoot what was happening as a
prove that a full-scale war had started. And you now, none of us then
thought of making money, we simply wanted the world to know the truth.”
Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
FOURTH “PRESS CLUB” SHOW
On November 15 on the evening air of the Second Armenian TV Channel the
fourth “Press Club” show was issued. The cycle is organized by Yerevan Press
Club under “Strengthening Democracy in South Caucasus by Free Expression”,
implemented jointly with “Article 19” international organization with the
support of Open Society Institute.
The show participants, the heads of the leading media and journalistic
associations of Armenia, discussed the issue of journalists’ accountability
for libel and insult. The second topic was the inner political situation in
the country and the inter-party relations – the problems most actively
raised in the Armenian press recently.
JOURNALISTS AND POLICEMEN GATHERED AT A ROUND TABLE
On November 17 “Femida” NGO held a round table, in which representatives of
Armenian media and the police took part. The event was organized under “Role
of Press in Establishing Rule of Law in Republic of Armenia” project,
implemented by “Femida” with the financial assistance of European
Commission. At the round table the participants discussed the issue of
overcoming the mutual lack of trust between the journalists and law
enforcement bodies that will allow to provide more up-to-date and reliable
information to the public about the criminal situation in the country.
“Femida” plans to hold such meetings regularly.
CHANGES AT “YERKIR-MEDIA”
The administration of “Yerkir-Media” TV channel has recently been changed.
Due to the resignation of Rubina Ghazarian, since November 12 the
responsibilities of “Yerkir-Media” Director were assumed by the head of news
programs Gegham Manukian. The new Chairman of the Board of the TV company is
businessman Norayr Melkonian, who replaced Harutiun Harutiunian in this
position.
When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.
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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
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