OPPOSITIONIST IMPLICATES SARKISIAN IN EDITOR’S BEATING
By Hovannes Shoghikian and Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 11 2006
The leader of an opposition party that controls a leading Armenian
newspaper said at the weekend that he suspects Defense Minister
Serzh Sarkisian of being behind last week’s reported beating of its
editor-in-chief.
Hovannes Galajian of the "Iravunk" bi-weekly and his staff believe the
incident was the result of their hard-hitting coverage of Armenia’s
leaders and their loyalists. They have implicitly described Sarkisian
as one of its possible organizers, pointing to a recent "Iravunk"
article that attacked and derided the powerful minister.
Sarkisian dismissed such suggestions on Thursday, saying that Galajian
is too insignificant a person to incur his ire. "I don’t fight against
or punish wretched people. I just ignore them," he said.
According to Hrant Khachatrian of the Union for Constitutional
Rights (SIM) party, which founded "Iravunk" more than 15 years ago,
the remarks only reinforced his suspicion that Sarkisian may have
ordered the violence. "We had a number of equally valid theories
relating to Hovannes Galajian’s discourse against both economic and
political criminal elements," Khachatrian told journalists. "But
after Serzh Sarkisian’s reaction I began to have more suspicions
[about his involvement.]"
Galajian claims to have been beaten up by two unknown men outside
his Yerevan home on Wednesday. He says the attackers resembled the
notoriously violent bodyguards of wealthy businessmen close to the
government. They are usually beefy and have very short haircuts.
The reported attack, which is being investigated by the police, has
been widely condemned by Armenian human rights groups, journalist
associations and opposition parties. The country’s human rights
ombudsman, Armen Harutiunian, has also joined in the chorus of
condemnations, saying that the law-enforcement authorities are not
doing enough to prevent periodical violence against local journalists.
Sarkisian’s contemptuous description of the "Iravunk" editor prompted
on Saturday a scathing commentary by "Haykakan Zhamanak," another
paper highly critical of the government. In a front-page editorial, the
popular daily said Armenia’s second most powerful man should look for
"wretched people" in his entourage, rather than the media. "As for us
[journalists,] the only argument in support of our wretchedness is
that we tolerate [Sarkisian] and the likes of him at the helm of our
state," it snapped.