Armenian journalists call on to punish ex-police chief for threatening reporters

Vladimir Gasparyan, the former chief of the Armenian Police, interfered with the activities of journalists of the "Azatutyun" Radio when they were filming a report on the illegal construction on the banks of Sevan Lake. Reporters from ten journalistic associations called for bringing Vladimir Gasparyan to justice.

The bill adopted in Armenia to limit water withdrawal from Sevan Lake is ineffective, since it does not prohibit the use of large volumes of water from the lake, ecologists suggest. Local residents say that the water has long approached the buildings.

The "Azatutyun" Radio reported that when Vladimir Gasparyan "noticed how journalists were filming his house on the lake shore, he pointed a car at them and threatened hit them all with the car and physically destroy them."

"We are horrified at this attack on our Armenian Service reporters, by no less than a former chief of police," said Daisy Sindelar, Acting President of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

The Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression (CPFE) called the Vladimir Gasparyan's actions "excessively unrestrained."

It should be noted that while Vladimir Gasparyan was the chief of the Armenian Police, he also showed brutal attitude towards journalists. "We should remember the action 'Electric Yerevan' in 2015 and the events of 2016 in the Sari Tag District of Yerevan with the captured police regiment building, when more than 40 journalists were injured because of the police actions," the journalists claimed.