On December 14 the Commission on Early Release and Release on Parole refused
the petition of early release of the Chief Editor “Zhamanak-Yerevan” newspaper
Arman Babajanian for the second time (the first petition was refused on July
19, 2007). As it has been reported, Arman Babajanian was sentenced to 3.5 years’
of imprisonment for document fraud to evade military service and has been serving
his sentence for about a year and a half already. On November 30 six human rights
and journalistic organizations called on the Commission to make an impartial
consideration and secure the new petition of an early release for the Editor
of “Zhamanak-Yerevan”. On December 12 the RA Human Rights Defender Armen Harutiunian
made a similar appeal. In the petition of the ombudsman it was noted that the
working group of the RA Human Rights Defender visited Arman Babajanian at the
hospital for convicts. In the conversation the journalist complained his health
had deteriorated. According to the information received from the penitentiary,
Arman Babajanian has no reprimands and has been a disciplined convict, the address
of Armen Harutiunian notes.
