ARMENIAN ONLINE EDITOR BEATEN, HOSPITALIZED

CPJ, Committee to Protect Journalists
-editor-beaten-hospitalized.php
April 30 2009

New York, April 30, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls
on Armenian authorities to apprehend three assailants who attacked
Argishti Kivirian, editor of the independent news Web site Armenia
Today. The unidentified men beat Kivirian early this morning, leaving
him hospitalized in serious condition, Zhanna Alexanian, president of
the Yerevan-based organization Journalists for Human Rights, told CPJ.

"We condemn this brutal attack on Argishti Kivirian and call on Yerevan
police to swiftly apprehend and punish his assailants," CPJ Europe and
Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "Independent
journalists in Armenia, including those working online, have been
subjected to increased physical violence in the past year. Armenian
authorities should reverse this trend by investigating and prosecuting
to the fullest all responsible for today’s attempt on Kivirian’s life."

Local press reports and CPJ sources said Kivirian was returning home
from his newsroom at around 5 a.m., when three men attacked him in the
entrance to his Yerevan apartment building. The men appeared to have
been waiting for him, said Alexanian, who spoke to Kivirian’s wife,
the prominent lawyer Lucine Saakian, shortly after the attack. Wielding
rubber clubs, the assailants hit Kivirian in the head and elsewhere
on his body. Kivirian struggled with one attacker who brandished a
gun, causing the firearm to discharge, Saakian told Alexanian. The
shots roused Saakian and neighbors, causing the assailants to flee,
local press reports said.

Kivirian was taken to a Yerevan hospital where he was being treated
for a concussion and multiple bruises, the Armenian press reported.

Armenia Today is an independent Web site that publishes political,
social, and economic news, along with analyses of current events. In a
statement published after the attack, Kivirian’s colleagues said they
were convinced the attack was connected to his work and vowed that
the site would continue operating as usual. Colleagues did not connect
the attack to a specific piece. Kivirian has not yet spoken publicly.