ASSAULT MADE ON ACTING HEAD OF RADIO LIBERTY YEREVAN OFFICE

Noyan Tapan

Au g 20, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 20, NOYAN TAPAN. The acting head of Radio Liberty
Yerevan Office was attacked and beaten in downtown Yerevan late August
18. "I connect this incident to our radio station, its programs. The
man who attacked me was swearing at Radio Liberty and our programs,"
he said.

The president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Jeff Gedman on
August 19 made a statement in connection with the fact. He said:
Obviously, this is not an accidental incident. It is for the first
time that the Armenian office has been subjected to a physical attack
for our programs and we expect the authorities to invetsigate the
case in detail and respond to this assault in a rapid and serious
way proceeding from the situation.

The head office of the Armenian National Congress set up on the
initiative of first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosian issued
a statement in connection with what happened. "It is natural that
being an islet of independent information in our present situation of
totally controlled electronic mass media, Radio Liberty is horrifying
the ruling regime by its unbiased information. Especially under
conditions of the post-March 1 information blockade, Radio Liberty
has become if not the only source, then one of rare sources of true
information for wide sections of the population," the statement reads.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress