Artiklar ifrån Armenisk media.

Följande artikel publicerades i den armeniska tidningen "Surhandak" den 24 december 2013.
Artikeln tar bl.a. upp hotbilden emot journalister, och omnämner (i det tredje stycket) Levon Sargsyans förföljelse utav Mher och hans familj och kopplingen till mordet av Andrainik Babyan.

Utdraget som omnämner Mher:

 

Den fulla översättningen:

 

 

Orginalartikel:

Följande tre artiklar ifrån Armenisk media, vilka jag funnit över nätet, berör och bekräftar likväl till punkt och pricka Mehrs historia om bakgrunden till deras flykt, med sin början i mordet på hans släkting Andrainik Babayan!

“If “Meat-Grinder” Lyovik and His Gang Aren’t Arrested They’ll Go on Committing Crimes’

[October 20, 2008]

The above comment is how Artur Sahakyan, Director of Armenian Public Radio’s “Radio Lour” program described the events in question. He portrayed National Assembly Deputy Levon Sargsyan, who is publicly known by the moniker ‘Flour-Mill Lyovik’, as a “meat-grinder”, given that the latter’s “criminal gang murdered 35 year-old Andranik Babayan, a father of two.”

“They relate they viciously beat the man, and with pistols to the head, as far as I know. They were under the impression that they were killing me but due to a tragic coincidence I was not behind the wheel of my car at the time,” stated Artur Sahakyan during a press interview while he was in hiding.

 “I have facts at my disposal that certain Police employees who are under the thumb of ‘Flour-Mill Lyovik’s’ gangsters have started to open a case against me. My biggest sin is that I rubbed shoulders with that gang’s whores that day.”

On September 29th, the Police issued a communiqué according to which on the 23rd of the same month, “Yerevan resident M. M. (Marineh Madatyan, born 1983, who, according to news reports is the girl friend of ‘Flour-Mill Lyovik’ as is known as ‘Marish of the Republican Party’ - A.D.), made a report to the Central Police Station stating that on September 20th she traveled to the Yerndjatap village in Aragatzotn Marz to attend a diner party with her acquaintance, Artur Sahakyan, born 1974. There, A. Sahakyan imbibed alcoholic beverages. On the return trip A. Sahakyan veered his ‘Nissan-Tida’ car off the road and attempted to rape her. However, she resisted and later telephoned her friends whilst A. Sahakyan fled the scene in his car.”

Marineh Madatyan, along with her acquaintance Armen Sargsyan, located Artur Sahakyan’s car in Yerevan at the intersection of Sayat-Nova and A. Manukian streets. Behind the wheel at the time was Andranik Babayan. After beating him severely they took Babayan, who was near death, and tossed him into the Adnaklasnik Café where A. Sargsyan proceeded to beat both Abel Mikayelyan and Artur Sahakyan. On the same day a report was received from the hospital that, “A. Babayan was delivered to them in an unconscious state from the Adnaklasnik Café.”

On September 22nd A. Sargsyan, born 1974, turned himself in at the Police Station where he confessed that the day before in the same café he had beat the above-mentioned individuals during an argument. The circumstances of the incident are being verified and a criminal case has been filed.

It remains unclear why Marineh Madatyan waited three whole days before going to the Police with her story. It is also strange why the Police waited nine days after the alleged incident to make their statement, while A. Babayan had already died in hospital, never regaining consciousness. In addition, in their statement the Police violated the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ statute since the full name of the ‘suspect’ was published.

“At first this event didn’t have great significance for us. There are many such public cases of fights and knife attacks and we don’t open files on all. When interest was created and there was public reaction to the incident, we didn’t hide anything and we placed it on our site. The fact that it filed late has nothing to do with A. Babayan’s death.” This is the explanation later given by Sayat Shirinyan, Chief of the Police Department’s Division of Public Information.

“In my opinion, there are enough details available for me to offer some possible scenarios as to the matter - a murder that was pre-planned and with such results that they would direct public opinion against me, so that they can say that he beat and tried to rape our sister. The second theory is that they whisked away and beat their sister so that she too would say things under fear and they came to take revenge. Let me point out that as far as I know court forensics didn’t register any such case. We also are involved with a second criminal act. Let them uncover who beat that girl and why.” declared A. Sahakyan. “I was in Abaran and she (M.M.) as a member of the Republican Party and my acquaintance, was with me… A couple of cars bearing 770-70 numbered license plates came directly at us on the road; they took their girl with them. If I had beaten or raped her they should have said so then.”

During an October 9th press conference Deputy Police Chief Gagik Hambardzumyan stated, “We will take him (A. Sahakyan) to court if attempted rape is substantiated. If not, we will accuse Marineh Madatyan of slander.”

In the words of A. Sahakyan - Instead of the Police investigating who murdered Andranik Babayan they are occupied with filing a case against me. “I went the first day and understood that the Police were involved. Some 60-70 of them entered the Adnaklasnik Café and started to tear the place apart. They asked, where is Artur and said, we’re going to break his head, and we’re going to kill him. I immediately fled out the rear exit and tried to contact the Police because I am one of the founders of that café. At the time there were ordinary customers in the café and a safety issue arose. I rung up the civil administration but they responded 1 to 1 ½ hours later when the gang of thugs had already left.”

According to news reports, that same day ‘Flour-Mill Lyovik’ had threatened the Vice-Chief of Police, Hovhannes Hunanyan, on the telephone not to show up at the café before they had left.

By October 3rd, the following new information had circulated on the Police website. “On September 21st at 1:01 AM the Central Police Division had received an alarm from the Yerevan Municipal Administration that a quarrel had broken out at 49 Khanjyan Street. The operative unit that responded was informed by Abel Mikayelyan, a co-owner of the Adnaklasnik Café that a group of people had entered the store and proceeded to create a ruckus, prevented the business from operating and then beat up both him and his friend, A. Sahakyan, who was taken unconscious to the Saint Gregory the Illuminator medical center. During the initial preparation of the materials it was discovered that the person beaten along with A. Mikayelyan wasn’t A. Sahakyan but their acquaintance, A. Babayan.

On September 23rd the collected materials on the case were dispatched to the Central Division of Investigation where a criminal case was filed the same day.

According to a new communiqué, Armen Sargsyan, who had stated up till then that he had beaten everyone, had now testified that, while he was present in the café at the time, he only cursed from the sidelines and didn’t hit anyone or participate in the melee. In contrast, both Samvel Alikhanyan and Sahak Azizbekyan, who appeared before the Police on September 27th, confessed that they had entered the café along with A. Sargsyan, cursed and proceeded to beat the employees. All have since been arrested.

The Police communiqué states, “In conjunction with the report and testimony of Marineh Madatyan, both Arsen Ghazaryan and Robert Gevorgyan were questioned as well as Artur Sahakyan, the co-owner of the café. They all gave testimony contradicting one another. In order to clarify these contradictions and reveal the truth an extensive process of investigations is underway.”

Deputy Police Chief G. Hambardzumyan has stated, “Regarding the matter at hand, we will also question National Assembly Deputy Levon Khachatryan as to whether there was drinking involved or not. It was at his summer home that the party took place at which the news reporter A. Sahakyan was also in attendance. There will be no investigation regarding Deputy Levon Sargsyan.”

“The testimony provided by Artur Sahakyan does not mention seeing him. If there had been any basis mentioning the name of Levon Sargsyan in this matter he would have surely been summoned and questioned.” the Vice-Chief of Police stated at the press conference.

As to why, during the questioning of Artur Sahakyan as a witness they have, in his words, forgotten ‘Meat Grinder Lyovik”, is anyone’s guess. During the interview mentioned Sahakyan noted that, “he sincerely believes that the President will follow up in this matter.”

This story would have remained unnoticed for the most part if Andranik Babayan, who was an innocent bystander, hadn’t died in hospital. All the parties involved, Artur Sahakyan, the Police, National Assembly Deputies Levon Khachatryan and Levon Sargsyan, were waiting to see whether Andranik would regain consciousness or not. It was only after his death that the parties involved in the incident began to make statements. And one of those parties is the Police, who are supposed to be upholding the law in the country.

On October 1st the criminal case was sent to the Investigative Unit of the Special Case Services. Top-ranking Police officials assure us that an impartial inquiry will take place. However, the contradictory statements made by the Police lead us to believe that an impartial inquiry is out of the question.

Ararat Davtyan

One Law for Them, Another for Us

A violent death in Armenia reveals a two-tier system of justice. From IWPR.

by Nvard Hovhannisyan 10 July 2012

YEREVAN | The violent death of an army doctor at a restaurant in Yerevan continues to cause waves of anger in Armenia, where campaigners and opposition politicians blame a culture of impunity among the country’s ruling classes.

Vahe Avetyan was assaulted at the restaurant on 17 June, allegedly first by a waiter who refused to admit him because he was wearing sports gear, and then by security guards, who also beat two other army doctors who were with Avetyan.

Avetyan died 12 days later in a hospital without ever regaining consciousness.

Mourners thronged the military funeral for Major Vahe Avetyan. Image from a video by Slaqam.

The incident caught the public’s attention because the restaurant was owned by the family of Ruben Hayrapetyan, a member of parliament and chairman of the Armenian Football Federation.

On 30 June, the day after Avetyan’s death, hundreds of people lit candles outside the restaurant where the attack happened. Some held up banners saying, “I am Vahe.”

In the following days, similar demonstrations took place outside the president’s official residence, parliament, and the prosecutor general’s office. The protesters demanded an investigation and called on Hayrapetyan to step down from parliament and from the football federation.

“Vahe Avetyan’s case is unique in that the victim was one of us. … This case has sparked concern even in sections of society that were apolitical before,” Tsovinar Nazaryan, a journalist who joined the protests, said.

Four parties – Dashnaktsutyun, Heritage, Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian National Congress – have demanded a parliamentary debate on the murder.

On 4 July, Hayrapetyan had a meeting with President Serzh Sargsyan and announced his resignation.

“I feel a moral obligation to resign my mandate as a deputy of the Armenian National Assembly. I ask all who voted for me to forgive me for being unable to meet their expectations, but I am certain I had to take this step,” he said. “I hope that one day I will be forgiven by Vahe’s family. Whatever happens, I will do all I can to achieve that.”

Opposition politicians said the politician’s remarks were not nearly enough.

Nikol Pashinyan of the Armenian National Congress party warned against any attempt to “consign the murder of Vahe Avetyan to oblivion.”

“We must do everything we can to ensure that it is not forgotten, because if we do forget, if we do fail to ensure the public is aware of it, that will mean we are giving assent for more such incidents,” Pashinyan said.

Hayrapetyan has denied any involvement with or connection with the restaurant assault.

The public anger sparked by the incident comes after previous cases where guards employed by politicians have been accused of assaulting people and have gotten off lightly.

Avetik Ishkhanyan, head of the Armenian Helsinki Association, a human rights group, described witnessing an incident in which bodyguards of a member of parliament beat a man.

“When I called the police and asked why they couldn’t arrest them, they replied that they were powerless to do so,” he said.

The victim, 35-year-old Andranik Babayan, died later in a hospital without having regained consciousness.

Ishkhanyan recalled another incident in 2001 in which  a bodyguard of then-President Robert Kocharyan attacked and killed a man in a café toilet.

The victim, Poghos Poghosyan, had reportedly addressed the president with the words, “Hi, Bob.”

Babayan’s killer served only six months, while the bodyguard convicted of murdering Poghosyan received a suspended sentence of two years.

Ishkhanyan said perpetrators were generally punished only when the level of public anger became too great to be ignored, but even then, the sentences imposed were nominal.

Zaruhi Postanjyan, a parliamentarian from the Heritage Party, said such light penalties were clearly no deterrent.

The Dashnaktsutyun party has been pushing for eight years to regulate private security firms. It wants to impose a licensing system, testing, and standard uniforms; to make it illegal to hire more than three bodyguards; and to bar public officials from having any private guards.

Ishkhanyan said he doubted new legislation would change anything.

“The problem in Armenia is not the laws, but how they are observed,” he said. “The laws we have now allow for punishment. New laws or legislative amendments are basically there just as a demonstrative sign to the domestic and international public,” he said.

Nvard Hovhannisyan is a freelance journalist in Armenia. This article originally appeared on www.iwpr.net.

Attacks on Journalists in Armenia: A Chronicle

12.03.12

« Let's try to recall incidents of assault on media professionals in the country since Armenia's independence »

While covering post-election protests in Moscow, several reporters were attacked, the most serious of which was the case of Ulyana Malashenko, a reporter for Kommersant FM, the broadcasting arm of the independent business daily Kommersant, who was hospitalized after being struck twice in the head with a baton by police dispersing the crowd at Lubyanka Square. Reporters from Moskovskie Novosti, Ridus and RIA Novosti were also arrested the day following the presidential election. 
Incidents of reporters attacked following the Russian elections gives rise to reflect: what guarantee is there that the same won't happen to reporters covering the upcoming elections in Armenia? After all, elections are not too far away and there hasn't been an aversion to attacking reporters in the past in Armenia too.
Let's try to recall incidents of assault on media professionals in the country since Armenia's independence.
One of the first victims was Aram Abrahamyan, chief editor of the local daily Aravot, who on Oct. 19, 1994, was brutally beaten by two unknown assailants in the foyer of his apartment building. Abrahamyan was hit over the head with a metal rod and subsequently hospitalized with a concussion.
Speaking to Media.am, Abrahamyan inferred that he was attacked because those who didn't appreciate his criticism of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) on state television wanted to seek revenge. The assailants have not been identified to this day.
In 1995, Armen Baghdasaryan, leading correspondent for then opposition daily Azg, was beaten by two individuals outside the editorial offices. Initially, the attackers asked the journalist to show his credentials, subsequently beating him and eventually breaking his nose.
Also in 1995, Hakob Avetisyan, chief editor of Azg, was attacked just outside the elevator in his building. According to witnesses, a second man was waiting for his friend, the attacker, near the building entrance. Neither of the individuals have been identified. 
On Mar. 8, 1999, journalist and publicist Tigran Hayrapetyan, 35, whose critical analytical pieces had become a real headache for the ruling authorities, fell victim to an automobile accident under suspicious circumstances on a major Yerevan street.
It's harder to consider it a coincidence when a grenade explodes at a journalist's feet. It's hard to believe that the criminals on Oct. 22, 2002, confused well-known journalist and deputy director of the Yerevan-based Caucasus Media Institute Mark Grigoryan for someone else. In all likelihood, the attack was directed at Grigoryan and was previously planned. It's indicative that at the time he was conducting interviews for an article on the third anniversary of the Oct. 27 parliamentary shootings in Armenia, which he planned to write for a London-based online publication on the Caucasus. He eventually left Armenia, receiving political asylum in the UK. Currently, Grigoryan lives in London.
In 2000, about 30 supporters of Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan broke into the offices of opposition daily Haykakan Jamanak ("Armenian Times"), destroying and damaging property and assaulting the reporters there. According to a statement, apparently Tsarukyan wasn't happy about a particular piece published in the paper concerning his shares in Abovyan's Kotayk brewery. No criminal proceedings were launched by police regarding this incident. The bodily injuries received by newspaper staff were not serious. 
On Dec. 28, 2002, at around 7 pm, Armenian Public TV and Radio Chair Tigran Naghdalyan was fatally shot outside his parents' Yerevan apartment with a single blow to the head. On Mar. 15, 2003, Armen Sargsyan, brother of Republic Party leader Aram Sargsyan and of prime minister Vazgen Sargsyan (one of the men murdered in the Oct. 27, 1999 parliamentary shootings), was arrested on charges of organizing the murder. He was subsequently sentenced to 15 years in prison, but he was released in September 2008 on parole, after serving a third of his sentence.  
Reporters in Armenia are attacked not only in the capital. For example, Abovyan TV founder Artashes Mehrabyan and Executive Director Azniv Chizmechyan were beaten on Aug. 24, 2002.
On Apr. 5, 2004, skinheads reportedly snatched photo cameras from Haykakan Jamanak and Aravot and a video camera from Hay TV after a rally organized by the National Unity party. 
On Apr. 30, 2003, Mher Ghalechyan, a reporter with the local daily Chorrord Ishkhanutyun ("Fourth Estate"), was attacked in his office by two unidentified individuals.
On Apr. 12, 2004, while dispersing an opposition rally, police brutally assaulted Haykakan Jamanak reporters Hayk Gevorgyan and Avetis Babajanyan, Chorrord Ishkhanutyun reporter Mher Ghalechyan and Russian OPT TV camera operator Levon Grigoryan. 
On Aug. 24, 2004, MP Levon Sargsyan's bodyguard attacked Photolure photographer Mkhitar Khachatryan and Aravot correspondent Anna Israelyan while the pair was photographing the homes of state officials as part of a special report on deforestation in Tsaghkadzor.
On the evening of Nov. 22, 2004, a Lada Niva vehicle belonging to Haykakan Jamanak and primarily driven by chief editor Nikol Pashinyan was set on fire. The circumstances surrounding the explosion were never uncovered.
Hovhannes Galajyan, chief editor of local daily Iravunq ("right"), has been assaulted twice: once on Sept. 6, 2006, and the second time on Sept. 15, 2007. The first time he was attacked from the back while leaving his home (and assailants continued to beat him while he was on the ground) and the second time, when Galajyan was with the newspaper Iskakan Iravunq ("real right"), he was attacked near the newspaper office with metal rods and was hospitalized for two weeks as a result. The attackers have not yet been found. 
On Jul. 13, 2006, Chorrord Iskhanutyun and Aravot photojournalist Gagik Shamshyan became a target of intimidation and threats and was subsequently attacked. 
On Feb. 8, 2007, unidentified individuals set fire to the car belonging to Ara Saghatelyan, director of Panorama.am news site and editor of Im Iravunq ("my right") weekly.
On May 9, 2007, when dispersing an election rally of an alliance of several opposition parties known as Impeachment, police attempted to seize photojournalist Gagik Shamshyan's camera and also used tear gas on Tsovinar Nazaryan of the daily Hayastani Hanrapetutyun ("Republic of Armenia"), who was trying to film police actions.
On Oct. 23, 2007, journalist Gohar Veziryan of the same paper was attacked during a peaceful march. 
On Nov. 6, 2007, during an audit of Gyumri-based GALA TV by Armenia's state tax service, one of the inspectors attacked a camera operator filming the audit, attempting to strangle him and snatch the camera from him. After the cameraman complained, police launched an investigation but on Nov. 30 decided not to file criminal proceedings. 
On. Jan. 30, 2007, unidentified individuals set fire to the Prado jeep belonging to sports commentator and founder of the weekly Football+ Suren Baghdasaryan. This was the second time his car was set on fire: the first incident occurred in 2006, when Baghdasaryan commented on Armenia's Pyunik football club's decision to refuse to play against Azerbaijani football club Neftchi. Police were never unable to uncover the individuals responsible for either of the incidents. 
On Sept. 21, 2008, brutally beaten in the cafe Odnoklassniki, Andranik Babayan was in a coma for 8 days before he died. Babayan was killed accidentally as the assailant mistook him for Artur Sahakyan, co-owner of the cafe and head of the Radiolure program on Armenian public radio. After his life was spared, Sahakyan moved permanently to the US. 
On Nov. 17, 2008, at around 8 pm, unidentified individuals attacked Investigative Journalists NGO chair Edik Baghdasaryan in Yerevan, who was hospitalized with cranial trauma. The assailants had not put forth any demands prior to attacking Baghdasaryan. The identities of neither the attackers nor those who ordered the attack were ever determined.
On Apr. 30, 2009, there was an assassination attempt on Armenia Today news agency coordinator and former attorney Argishti Kiviryan near his home at 5 am. He was beaten and then shots were fired in his direction. Witnesses say Kiviryan was hit with truncheons, for which he was hospitalized. His colleagues assert the assassination attempt was tied to his professional activities.
Just after midnight on May 7, 2009, two unidentified individuals beat Shant TV host Nver Mnatsakanyan, 52, near his home, for which he was hospitalized.
In nearly all of the aforementioned cases, the criminals went unpunished.

Tigran Hovhannisyan

P.S. Perhaps I have not listed all such incidents. I ask readers to kindly complete the list by using the comments section below to add other incidents of attacks against journalists in Armenia.