COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER ARREST OF
ZHAMANAK YEREVAN DAILY’S EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

NEW YORK, JULY 10, NOYAN TAPAN. The Committee to Protect Journalists
dislocated in New York informs about the arrest of editor-in-chief of
the Zhamanak Yerevan daily Arman Babadzhanian in its July 7 report. He
faces up to five years in prison for allegedly forging documents to
avoid military service, but the Committee to Protect Journalists and
others are concerned that the charge was prompted by his newspaper’s
critical reporting on government conduct.

Babadzhanian was arrested June 26, just days after the
Armenian-language newspaper published an article questioning
the independence of the prosecutor general’s office, said Seda
Muradian of the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting
(IWPR), which has followed the case closely. Authorities allege that
forgeries occurred in 2002, but they did not explain the delay in
pressing charges.

Press reports said the prosecutor general summoned Babadzhanian for
questioning as a witness in a criminal case but jailed him instead
on the forgery charge. News reports said that the editor allegedly
confessed to forging documents to avoid the draft, but press freedom
and human rights groups are questioning the prosecutors’ motives.

Muradian, Armenia country director for IWPR, said the prosecutor’s
refusal to grant Babadzhanian preliminary release on bail is very
unusual in this type of case. "Authorities are treating Babadzhanian
as a dangerous criminal," Muradian told CPJ.

On Wednesday, the Yerevan Press Club, Internews Armenia, the Committee
to Protect Freedom of Expression, the Helsinki Committee of Armenia,
and other local press freedom groups sent a letter to the prosecutor
general’s office seeking Babadzhanian’s release on bail. The
groups also challenged the validity of Babadzhanian’s purported
confession. Also on Wednesday, editors of seven Armenian independent
and opposition newspapers issued a statement saying Babadzhanian’s
arrest was intended to intimidate the press.

"We are very concerned that the criminal case against Arman
Babadzhanian may be related to his journalism," CPJ Executive Director
Joel Simon said today.

"We call on Armenian authorities to release him pending trial and
make their evidence against him public."