On May 27 at the session of court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash
communities of Yerevan an incident happened, involving a police officer Edgar
Petrosian and the correspondent of “Taregir” newspaper Gayaneh Arustamian. At
the court the case of Misak Hovakimian, charged with violence against a representative
of power during the events of March 1, 2008 in Yerevan, was being heard. As
YPC was told by Gayaneh Arustamian, during the interrogation of Edgar Petrosian,
who was involved in the trial as the injured party, she put a recorder in front
of him. The police officer switched it off. Having noticed this, Gayaneh Arustamian
again turned the recorder on and warned Edgar Petrosian not to switch it off.
According to the journalist, as she was turning round to get back to her place,
she happened to touch the police officer’s shirt with her pen. The officer punched
her in her shoulder in response. A quarrel started, as a result of which the
judge asked Gayaneh Arustamian to leave the courtroom.
On May 28 the incident in the court room was covered by a number of newspapers.
In particular, “Haikakan Zhamanak” daily noted in the postscript to its story
about the occurrence that “the fact of the incident with the journalist can
be taken by the Prosecutor’s Office to be a report about a crime”.
