OPPOSITION PAPER HIT BY BLAST
By Hovannes Shoghikian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 13 2007
An Armenian opposition newspaper was rocked by an explosion early
Thursday which its editor-in-chief linked to its hard-hitting and
often derogatory coverage of the government.
An explosive device planted at the entrance to the Yerevan offices of
"Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" (Fourth Estate) reportedly went off at around
4:30 am, seriously damaging the two entrance doors. Nobody was inside
the premises during the blast.
"We did not notice any loss of property," Mher Ghalechian, a
"Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" journalist, told RFE/RL. "They probably
quickly planted the explosive device and left the scene in haste,"
he said of the attackers.
Ghalechian also said that police officers arrived at the scene later
in the morning to conduct forensic tests and look for possible clues.
As of late evening the police did not issue any statements in
connection with the incident, which could add to rising political
tensions ahead of Armenia’s presidential election scheduled for
February 19.
"Chorrord Ishkhanutyun," which is published twice a week, is staunchly
supportive of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian and hostile to
Armenia’s current leaders as well as pro-government and even some
opposition leaders. The paper routinely derides them in its articles
and trademark cartoons.
The "Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" editor, Shogher Matevosian, claimed that
her staffers recently received "threats" from Prime Minister Serzh
Sarkisian’s chief bodyguard and driver and a local government chief.
Matevosian said the bodyguard, known to journalists as Vacho,
warned her parliamentary correspondent that Sarkisian supporters are
increasingly annoyed by "Chorrord Ishkhanutyun" cartoons and that
the prime minister may no longer be able to keep them from assaulting
her or her colleagues.
Matevosian also claimed that Mher Sedrakian, the controversial mayor
of Yerevan’s Erebuni district, phoned the paper and swore at one of
its employees in response to a derogatory "Chorrord Ishkhanutyun"
article about him. "So right now I have two suspects, who are not
particularly different from each other: Vacho and Mher Sedrakian,"
she told RFE/RL.
Matevosian is among five pro-Ter-Petrosian activists who were arrested
and are now prosecuted for resisting police orders during an October
demonstration in Yerevan dispersed by security forces. The activists
were released from police custody after Ter-Petrosian’s personal
intervention.