Arminfo, Yerevan, in Russian
13 Sep 06

ARMENIAN MP BACKS SENTENCE HANDED DOWN ON EDITOR

Yerevan, 12 September: The Armenian Revolutionary
Federation-Dashnaktsutyun has always spoken out and is still speaking
out against the suppression of journalists’ professional activities
and violence against them, a member of the party’s supreme body, MP
Spartak Seyranyan, said at a news conference today.

However, he said that the faction of the party did support the editor
of Zhamanak Yerevan newspaper, Arman Babadzhanyan, who was sentenced
to four years in prison, because his trial had nothing to do with
freedom of expression. Babadzhanyan was convicted of dodging military
service. All are equal before the law. It does not matter if a person
is a journalist, a bus driver or a teacher if he refuses to carry out
his civic duties, Seyranyan said.