Journalists issue statement in connection with assault on H. Karapetian

Several journalistic organizations of Armenia issued today a joint statement in connection with the incident that occurred with Hakob Karapetian, a reporter of iLur.am.

“We denounce the violence committed against the journalist and demand that the authorities punish those guilty and take relevant measures to prevent such incidents in the future. Any justification of impunity is inadmissible as the detection of this crime is easy. If the crime goes unpunished, we will consider the numerous statements of the police chiefs about their political impartiality as idle talk,” says the statement signed by Levon Barseghian of Asparez Club of Journalists, Erik Baghdasarian of Investigative Reporters NGO, Boris Navasardian of Yerevan Press Club, Nune Sargsyan of Internews NGO, Ahot Melikian of the Committee for the Protection of Freedom of Speech, and Suren Deherian of Journalists for the Future NGO.

Let us remind you that earlier Hakob Karapetian described the April 23 incident on his Facebook page. Some persons attacked Karapetian who was covering a pre-election meeting of the current Yerevan Mayor Taron Margarian in Nor Nork 8th block of Yerevan. Taron Margarian tops the list of candidates of Republican Party of Armenia.

According to H. Karapetian, several men approached him and demanded that he should stop filing. He explained that he was performing his professional duties. The member of Yerevan Council of Elders Ashot Papian swore at the reporter and hit him, after which several other people joined him and began beating Karapetian. A policeman was present at the meeting. He did not intervene to stop the violence. The men seized Hakob Karapetian’s camera and removed footage.