Rights defenders demand revising attack case on journalist Avetisyan

The court has acquitted the head of the construction company, accused of attacking Narine Avetisyan, the editor-in-chief of the Armenian "Lori" TV Channel; his subordinate was found guilty but released from punishment. The court's verdict should be cancelled; an impartial investigation of the case is necessary, journalists and human rights defenders assert.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Avetisyan claimed that in September 2017, when she was filming the works of laying asphalt under the rain in Vanadzor, she was attacked by employees and the head of a construction company. The head of the company was accused of obstructing the journalist's professional activities.

The verdict in Avetisyan's case was criticized by 10 journalistic and public organizations. The court was deliberately protracting the litigation in order to apply the statutory norm of the crime time limitation, they have suggested.

Boris Navasardian, the head of the Yerevan Press Club, believes that the verdict in the case of the attack on Narine Avetisyan, the editor-in-chief of the TV Channel, has revealed several problems. "We saw cases of violence against journalists during the events of the 'Electric Yerevan' and the dispersal of demonstrators during the capture of the 'Sasna Tsrer' police regiment. In these cases, no one was punished; it was done so as not to cause discontent in power structures. This problem has survived under the new authorities," he has stated.

Mr Navasardian also believes that the judicial system of Armenia is in a deplorable state.

All these problems evidence that in fact, at no institutional level the defence of citizens is guaranteed, he has noted.

Zhanna Aleksanyan, the head of the NGO "Journalists for Human Rights", believes that the government fails to take steps to eradicate violence.