"RECENT ASSAULTS ON JOURNALISTS IN ARMENIA THREATEN FREE PRESS"

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[08:00 pm] 19 November, 2008

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti,
expressed his concern today over a violent attack this week against
an independent journalist in Armenia.

Edik Bagdasaryan, the President of Investigative Journalists’
Association and Chief Editor of Hetq Online, known for his
investigative reporting on Armenian politics and business, was attacked
on 17 November in Yerevan by three assailants. He sustained serious
head injuries.

"Violence against journalists is not ‘crime as usual’, because
it undermines a basic institution of democracy – the free press,"
Haraszti wrote to Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

Haraszti also referred in the letter to earlier cases of violence
against journalists in Armenia, including Lusine Barseghyan from
the opposition newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak, and Hrach Melkumyan,
the acting Chief of the Yerevan bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty. Their cases are still unsolved.

"The aim of such crimes is to intimidate media workers in the
country and obstruct investigative reporting. The lack of progress in
resolving these cases could provoke further cases of violence against
journalists," said Haraszti. The OSCE media freedom representative
urged the Armenian authorities to thoroughly and swiftly investigate
all attacks against journalists, and to bring those responsible
to justice.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress