OSCE ‘DEEPLY CONCERNED’ ABOUT VIOLENCE AGAINST ARMENIAN JOURNALISTS
By Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 12 2006
The Yerevan office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe added its voice on Tuesday to serious concerns expressed by
Armenian media and human rights groups about recent reported attacks
on local journalists.
"The OSCE Office in Yerevan is deeply concerned over recent incidents
of violence and intimidation against local journalists which have
obstructed their professional duties and infringed upon the freedom
of expression," it said in a statement.
"The Office considers it extremely important for these cases to be
properly investigated and calls for the perpetrators to be punished
in full accordance with the law. Law-enforcement bodies are urged to
undertake prompt measures to ensure the safety of media professionals
in order to promote freedom of expression in the country," added
the statement.
The statement seems to have been prompted by the reported September 6
beating of Hovannes Galajian, editor of the opposition-linked "Iravunk"
newspaper, by two unknown men. The Armenian police have launched a
criminal investigation into the incident but have not charged anyone
yet. Galajian and his staff have attributed the violence to their
hard-hitting coverage of the Armenian government and its loyalists.
The OSCE office, which monitors the state of press freedom in Armenia,
also cited the saga of Gagik Shamshian, a freelance journalist who
claims to have been harassed by a local government chief allegedly
angered by his news reporting. The police controversially launched
criminal proceedings against Shamshian last month after he accused
the official’s brother of attacking him with a large group of other
men in June.
Armenian media associations have also denounced as politically
motivated the prosecution of Arman Babajanian, the editor of the
independent "Zhamanak Yerevan" newspaper who was convicted of
illegally avoiding military service and sentenced to four years
in prison by a Yerevan court last Friday. While admitting to draft
dodging, Babajanian claimed that he was jailed because of his strong
opposition to Armenia’s leadership.
The prison sentence is quite harsh by Armenian standards. Young
Armenian men found guilty of draft evasion have usually been jailed
for between two and three years.
"Given the history of politicized prosecution of journalists in
Armenia, we are skeptical about the appropriateness of this sentence,"
the executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ), Joel Simon, said in a Monday statement that cited
RFE/RL’s coverage of Babajanian’s arrest and trial.
"Physical assaults against journalists [in Armenia] also continue,
and CPJ research shows that officials do little to apprehend and
prosecute the perpetrators," the statement said.
From: Baghdasarian