PACE REPORT: HARASSMENT OF JOURNALISTS AND DIRECT CONTROLS ON THE MEDIA INTENSIFIED AROUND THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2009-10-29 16:45:00

ArmInfo. Harassment of journalists and direct controls on the media
intensified around the time of the February 2009 presidential election,
PACE report says.

Four states, Armenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Russia, were classified
as "Not Free", as was Belarus, the only European state not yet
accepted as a member of the Council of Europe because of fundamental
failings in its record for democratic governance and the protection
of human rights.

Several journalists including photographer Gagik Shamshyan were injured
in assaults by police during protests after the election. CPJ reported
that a reporter, Lusine Barseghan, was assaulted while attempting
to document abuses at a Yerevan polling station. During a three-week
long State of Emergency all independent reporting was banned. In March
2007 similar government controls on the media were imposed during a
temporary State of Emergency under the previous administration. Several
other journalists suffered assaults in 2008, including Hrach Melkumyan,
Yerevan bureau chief of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Edik
Baghdasaryan, editor of the online news magazine Hetq and chair of
Armenian Association of Investigative Journalists. 54. On 30 April 2009
Argishti Kivirian, editor of the online news website Armenia Today,
was attacked by three unknown assailants outside his home in Yerevan,
leaving him with severe injuries. He was reportedly beaten on his
head and body with clubs or wooden poles and one of the attackers
also fired gunshots which caused no injuries. Colleagues said they
believed the attack was related to his work.