IMJ CALLS ON JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS MINISTRY TO INTERVENE IN ARMENIAN JOURNALIST’S CASE
Malta Independent Online, Malta
April 16 2007
The Institute of Maltese Journalists (IMJ) has called on the Justice
and Home Affairs Ministry to intervene in the case of Gina Khachatryan,
the 30-year-old Armenian journalist who landed in Malta on Friday
afternoon on her way to be deported to her homeland.
"We call on the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry to investigate the
circumstances surrounding this case and, if warranted, offer political
asylum to Ms Khachatryan," said Malcolm J Naudi, chairman, IMJ.
"Ms Khachatryan was in the UK for the past four years after being
detained in Armenia for 40 days for revealing electoral fraud,
therefore it would be suicidal to send her back to her homeland,
where she would risk being detained once more for doing her job as
a journalist," added Mr Naudi.
The IMJ also called on the British authorities to reverse their
decision not to extend Ms Khachatryan’s stay in the United Kingdom.
"As a promoter of democracy and human rights on a global scale, the
United Kingdom should not shirk its responsibility in this case and
hand over Ms Khachatryan and her family to the Armenian government,"
he insisted.
According to the international journalists’ organisation Reporters
Sans Frontieres, Armenia was the 101st worst country (out of 168)
for restrictions to press freedom in 2006.
Edik Baghdasaryan, head of the association of investigative journalists
in Armenia, has reported a recent wave of violent attacks against
journalists in the country as an electoral campaign looms.
There is a history of press freedom violations in Armenia. If officials
or large-scale businessmen – do not like what is written, reporters
are threatened and, in some cases, beaten up. One reporter was forced
to leave his flat last summer.
A copy of this statement has been sent to the International Federation
of Journalists (IFJ), the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry and the
British embassy in Malta.