Armenian Court of Appeal refuses to consider complaint in case of attack on journalist

The cassation appeal filed by journalist Marina Khachatryan is not accepted by the court to the proceedings. The defence has announced the intention to file a complaint in the case to the ECtHR.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 9, 2014, during a protest rally in Yerevan, according to Marina Khachatryan, a journalist of the "A1+", she was attacked by Karen Airapetyan, a security officer of the National Assembly of Armenia. The incident was recorded on video and caused a resonance in social networks. In November 2014, the Armenian General Prosecutor's Office granted the journalist a victim status; however, the special investigating service stopped the investigation.

The defence of the journalist complained about the decision of the Armenian Court of Appeal to uphold the decision of the first instance court, according to which the case would not be reopened.

According to advocate Artak Zeinalyan, the defence intends to file a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

In his page on Facebook, Ashot Melikyan, Chairman of the Committee for Protection of Freedom of Expression, has noted that the decision of the Court of Appeal means that the law enforcement authorities of Armenia and the judicial system ignore the obvious facts and claim that on September 9, 2014, no one interfered with the work of the journalist at the entrance to the National Assembly of Armenia.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.