Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009europe and central asia: azerbaijanOther forms of government obstruction were reported on a regular basis. InJanuary, bailiffs in a Yerevan court prevented journalists from attending the trialof seven opposition activists charged with illegal participation in 2008 protests,according to local press reports. In August, the police chief in the northwesterncity of Gyumri prevented a crew from Shant TV, a private station, from coveringprotests in front of the mayor’s office concerning the closing of a local market,local press reports said. That same month, parliament issued new media accreditationrules that authorized suspensions of journalists whose reports “do not correspondto reality” or that disrespect the “lawful interests, honor, and dignity”of members of parliament, according to local press reports. Parliamentary staffmembers were given wide discretion to administer the rules.Violent attacks against journalists continued amid a climate of impunity. OnMarch 13, security guards at the State Linguistics University in Yerevan knockedfreelance photographer Gagik Shamshian to the ground and kicked him after hetried to photograph students protesting alleged faculty corruption, according topress reports. Shamshian was hospitalized for six days with internal bleeding. Asecurity guard was briefly questioned by police but was not charged.In April, three unidentified assailants attacked Argishti Kivirian, editor ofthe independent news Web site Armenia Today, outside his home in Yerevan,according to press reports. The assailants beat him with clubs, leaving the editorhospitalized with a concussion and severe bruising. Kivirian’s colleagues andfamily linked the attack to his professional activities, noting that he had receivedprior work-related threats. Lusine Sahakaian, a prominent defense lawyer andthe editor’s wife, criticized police for failing to collect evidence at the crime scene,the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. ArmeniaToday’s Web site was plagued by denial-of-service attacks throughout theyear—including a series of attacks that coincided with the assault on Kivirian.A third attack also generated no arrests and little evident police investigation.Nver Mnatsakanian, a prominent commentator for Shant TV, was punched andknocked to the ground by two unidentified men as he was walking home in Yerevanon the evening of May 6, according to press reports. Mnatsakanian, who wasforced to cancel his show for two days, criticized police for claiming the attackwas the result of mistaken identity.<strong>Attacks</strong> spiked in May, several of them related to a Yerevan mayoral electionthat was marred by allegations of fraud. Gohar Vezirian, a reporter for theopposition newspaper Chorrord Ishkhanutyun, was beaten by supporters of progovernmentcandidate Gagik Beglarian after she informed an election commissionerthat the candidate’s supporters had unlawfully entered a polling station inYerevan, according to the news Web site EurasiaNet. Election officials stood bywhen pro-government supporters threatened Nelly Gregorian, a reporter for theindependent daily Aravot, confiscated her camera and erased photos at a pollingstation in Yerevan, according to the London-based Institute for War and PeaceReporting (IWPR).Law enforcement officials were either ambivalent or hostile to the press.Col. Hovhannes Tamamian, a senior police investigator, told reporters at a May8 press conference that police were working hard to arrest assailants in the attacks—buthe suggested journalists should arm themselves in defense, accordingto international press reports. In August, when prosecutors were angered by mediacriticism of an investigation into the activities of an outspoken environmentalactivist, a spokesman for the prosecutor general warned journalists that the office“regularly sends publications to police for assessment,” IWPR reported. Thecomment was seen as a veiled threat that journalists would be harassed if theycontinued reporting on the case.Arman Babadzhanian, 33, editor of the opposition daily Zhamanak Yerevanand a critic of law enforcement officials, was released from prison in August afterdoctors diagnosed a brain tumor, according to press reports. In 2006, he was sentencedto four years in prison after publishing an article that questioned the independenceof the Yerevan prosecutor’s office. Babadzhanian had been convicted offorging documents to skirt military service; he did not dispute the allegation, buthe and press freedom advocates, including CPJ, said the prosecution was selectiveand retaliatory. Babadzhanian underwent surgery outside the country and wasrecovering in late year.AZERBAIJANUsing imprisonment as a crude form of censorship, theauthoritarian government of President Ilham Aliyev remained one of the region’sworst jailers of journalists. Authorities allowed one editor to die in state custodyafter failing to provide adequate medical care and ignoring domestic and internationalpleas for treatment.Political dissent and independent voices, already in short supply, came underassault again as Aliyev tightened his grip on the oil-rich Caspian Sea nation. InMarch, his government brought before voters a constitutional amendment to removepresidential term limits, effectively allowing Aliyev to remain in office forlife. The measure, which passed by a wide margin, was criticized by oppositionpoliticians and the international community. Aliyev was elected to a second termin 2008 after electoral laws were changed to restrict participation by oppositionpoliticians. Aliyev effectively inherited the presidency from his father, Heydar,himself leader of Azerbaijan for more than 30 years.166167