DEMOCRACY WAS ABOLISHED TWO YEARS AGO
A1+
[08:49 pm] 12 April, 2006
At night of April 13, 2004 the authorities used all the forces of
the police, water-spraying cars, batons and explosives to fight
against they own people. They even blocked several parts of the
streets. And all this because the people used their Constitutional
right to organize peaceful demonstrations to demand a confidence
referendum against the President.
The unprecedented violations resulted in tens of injured. Two years ago
the rights of the journalists were violated harshly: representatives
of several Mass Media – journalist of the newspaper “Armenian Times”
Hayk Gevorgyan and cameraman of the TV Company ORT Levon Grigoryan
were beaten severely, and their cameras were broken.
In the picture the policeman is trying to forbid the representative of
“A1+” to take photos of what is going on in the Baghramyan avenue. It
is noteworthy that there were no representatives of the Armenian
“free and fair” TV Companies. Being closed down by the authorities
“A1+” still tried to do its professional duty representing unbiased
information about the incidents to people. The “A1+” website worked
online, and the “A1+” staff provided NTV, ORT, Rossia, Reuters and
other foreign TV Companies with impartial information and photos.
After April 13, 2004 many international organizations made condemning
statements. But that changed nothing in Armenia. The fact is that the
common citizens felt on their skin that one fair word in Armenia is
equal to one hit with a baton.