PHOTOJOURNALIST REPORTS ANOTHER ATTACK
Ruzanna Stepanian

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24.02.2010

A prominent Armenian photojournalist claimed on Wednesday to have been
verbally abused and attacked by a law-enforcement official outside
of the Office of the Prosecutor-General.

The reported incident took place just before an annual meeting
of Armenia’s state prosecutors that was also attended by top
representatives of the police and other security agencies.

Shamshian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that the official swore and
repeatedly hit him in the head with a handbag before entering the
prosecutors’ headquarters. He said he was attacked after refusing to
stop taking the man’s pictures.

"I know that individual [by face] because he was present as a
representative of an investigating body at various trials that I
covered," said Shamshian. "But I don’t know his name."

Shamshian informed Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian about the
incident at a news conference that followed the prosecutors’ meeting.

He wondered if he can formally report it to the law-enforcement agency.

"Not only you can, but I, as prosecutor-general, demand that you
present us with your photo and audio materials so that we can clear up
[the circumstances,]" replied Hovsepian.

Shamshian underwent a medical examination at a hospital in Yerevan
later in the day. Doctors there detected a bleeding injury in his ear.

Shamshian, who mainly works for two pro-opposition newspapers, has a
history of physical abuse at the hands of security officers. He was
also beaten up and hospitalized last March after a row with security
guards at a state-run university in Yerevan.