Police acts inhumanely towards journalists in Yerevan
By Nazrin Gadimova
Mass protests have gained a pace in Armenia’s capital city Yerevan, on the background of recent skirmishes the Armenian military leadership staged in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan.
Fierce fighting in the front-line areas emerged as a result of aggressive policy of the Armenian leadership led by Serzh Sargsyan, provoking a strong response in the Armenian society. Some participants of the mass rally protested over Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Yerevan, while another demanded retirement of country’s FM Edward Nalbandian, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan and Chief of the General Staff Yuri Khatchaturov.
Moreover, protesters urged ‘to force oligarchs to pay large amounts to the state budget’, as well as to pay $30,000 in compensation to the families of the dead soldiers and $5,000 to families of the wounded.
Yerevan remained loyal to its 'principles" as the police detained 42 people, including two camera operators of one of the Armenian news websites, as well as one journalist.
Arman Babajanyan, the Editor-in-Chief of the 1in.am website, said that he will fight for bringing those engaged in violence against media representatives to the proceedings. He further added that as a result of clashes some equipment was damaged.
Some observers, who attended the rally, were shocked by the behavior of the guards.
“It was impossible to talk to them [police representatives], they acted rudely, they absolutely did not take into account whether it was the observer or a journalist, the situation was terrible,” said Avetik Ishkhanyan, Armenia’s Chairman at the Helsinki Committee. Ishkhanyan believes that it was a striking phenomenon, which showed that police in Armenia does not work according to the law, but on orders from the authorities.
Cruel treatment of the police representatives towards protesters and journalists is high on the agenda of the local media, as well some international organizations.
Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the
Media, expressed concern about the safety of journalists in Armenia
after the recent enforcement action by the police against members
of the media.
“I reiterate my call on the authorities to ensure journalists’
rights to safe reporting at all times,” Mijatović said. “The use of
violence against the media, especially by law enforcement
representatives, is unacceptable.”
--
Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz