On October 7 in the court of primary jurisdiction of Kotayk region of Hrazdan city the hearings on the case of attack on the correspondent of “Photolure” photo news agency Mkhitar Khachatrian, committed on August 24, 2004, in Tsaghkadzor, are to start. As it has been reported, Mkhitar Khachatrian together with the correspondent of “Aravot” daily Anna Israelian were in Tsaghkadzor preparing a piece on the forest cutting in the vicinity of sports complex for the construction of summerhouses of high-ranked officials. After the end of the shootings the memory chip of the journalist’s camera was taken away by force. Charges of public disorder (part 1 of Article 164 of the RA Criminal Code) and the obstruction of legitimate professional activities (part 1 of Article 258 of the RA Criminal Code) of correspondents Mkhitar Khachatrian and Anna Israelian were introduced by the RA General Prosecutor’s Office to a Yerevan resident, formerly twice convicted Gagik Stepanian, whose prevention measure was chosen to be arrest (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, August 26 – September 2, 2004 and September 3-9, 2004).
