Rights defenders: Armenian authorities do not investigate attacks on journalists

In Armenia, eight journalistic and NGOs have issued a statement dated to the second anniversary of the events in Bagramyan Avenue.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 17, 2015 the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) of Armenia decided to raise the tariff for electricity. A protest action was held in front of the PSRC's office. On June 22, a group of residents of Gyumri began a sitting strike. In the course of the dispersal of the demonstrators, 237 people were detained, and journalists were injured. During the mass protests, the police used force methods.

In their complaint, the human rights defenders demand from the authorities to punish the policemen guilty of using violence against journalists on June 23, 2015, during the dispersal of the protest action against the rise in the tariff for electricity, and during the July events of 2016 in Khorenatsi Street and in the Yerevan District of Sari Tag, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The complaint was signed by members of the Committee for the Protection of Freedom of Expression, the Yerevan Press Club, the Media Initiatives Centre, the Gyumri Journalists' Club "Asparez", the Gori Press Club, and the Institute of Multilateral Information-Armenia, as well as the NGOs "Journalists for the Future" and "Journalists for Human Rights".

According to the journalists' complaint, during the dispersal of the demonstration against the rise in the tariff for electricity, law enforcers used unprecedented physical violence against 13 journalists and cameramen and also interfered with professional activities of other 11 representatives of the media.

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