Three journalists attacked at protest in Yerevan

At a protest action, opponents of Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian Premier, a journalist and an operator of the "Azatutyun" Radio were kicked, said Artak Khulyan, one of the victims. One more media professional was attacked, said Levon Sardaryan, the head of the independent trade union of journalists, without giving the victim's name.

Artak Khulyan, a journalist, said that the attack on him and Karen Chilingaryan, a cameraman of the "Azatutyun" Radio, was committed during the march of activists of the "Movement for Motherland Salvation" along the central streets of Yerevan, which the above media professionals were covering in the online mode. Artak Khulyan has told in his report posted in his Facebook page that he and the operator were kicked, and their equipment was damaged. "It is not clear why activists are so aggressively opposed to us. Recently [...] the 'Azatutyun' covered all the events (protests against Pashinyan)," said the journalist, whose words were translated by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

On February 23, two incidents involving journalists were recorded, Levon Sardaryan, the head of the independent trade union of journalists, wrote in his Facebook page.

According to his story, in the morning, during a disobedience action, a law enforcer "deliberately pushed the journalist who was covering the event," and then "they attacked the film team of another media outlet."

Mr Sardaryan said that he intentionally did not give the names of the attacked journalists, since for him "it does not matter with whom the incident is connected." "But the law says that obstruction of a journalist's professional activity of is a criminal offense," the trade union leader has added.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 24, 2021 at 00:34 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.