Journalists’ rights in Armenia must be ensured, says OSCE Representative

BISHKEK, 30 September 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today called on the Armenian authorities to bring to justice those responsible for attacks on journalists and to end the climate of impunity following another case of the obstruction of a journalist’s work in Yerevan.

According to reports on 19 September Taguhi Hovhannisyan, a journalist with the Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, had her recorder grabbed by the Head of the Armenian diaspora in Kazakhstan after she approached him with a question at a public event in Yerevan. The public official then ordered his bodyguards to remove the journalist from the premises. When Hovhannisyan tried to use her phone to take a photo, the bodyguards seized her phone and erased the records.

“I am worried about the number of the recent attacks against journalists in Armenia and the lack of effective measures to end the climate of impunity,” Mijatović wrote in a letter to Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. “I hope the attack on Hovhannisyan will be duly addressed by law enforcement.”

Separately, Mijatović noted with disappointed that the Special Investigative Service has refused to open a criminal case on a recent attack on A1+ journalist Marine Khachatryan, whose case she raised with the authorities on 10 September.

She also expressed concern that the matter involving the assault and detention of Ani Gevorkyan, a journalist with the Chorrord Ishkhanutyun newspaper, which she raised on 14 February, was dropped.

“I urge the authorities to adequately and timely address these crimes. Impunity has a potential to generate more violence and produce a chilling effect on free expression and free media,” Mijatović said.

Mijatović is in Bishkek as a special guest of PEN International at its 80th World Congress.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media observes media developments in all 57 OSCE participating States. She provides early warning on violations of freedom of expression and media freedom and promotes full compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments. Learn more atwww.osce.org/fom, Twitter: @OSCE_RFoM and on www.facebook.com/osce.rfom.