On October 29 Yerevan Press Club, Journalists Union of Armenia and Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression issued a statement condemning the attack on the Chief Editor of “Aragats Ashkhar” newspaper Vardevan Grigorian (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, October 22-28, 2004).
"On October 27, 2004 at Tsaghkahovit village of Aragatsotn region the Chief Editor of “Aragats Ashkhar” newspaper Vardevan Grigorian was beaten by the head of the Aragats Fire Prevention Department and his deputy for a piece published. The case is particularly out of the ordinary as the same person (the head of the fire prevention department) had also exercised violence against Vardevan Grigorian five years ago and received an administrative punishment for that.
This is already the second case of violence against regional media representatives in the course of October and comes to prove the point of our previous statements – that the lack of punishment gives rise to new crimes, and their wave has now started to cover the regions of Armenia.
Yerevan Press Club, Journalists Union of Armenia and the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression condemn the incident with Chief Editor of “Aragats Ashkhar” and demand the law enforcement bodies to conduct an objective investigation and to punish those responsible", the statement of the three journalistic associations says.
