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Noyan Tapan News Agency
Sept 15 2006
TO RA OMBUDSMAN, 4 YEARS' IMPRISONMENT IS SEVERE PUNISHMENT FOR
EDITOR OF "ZHAMANAK YEREVAN" NEWSPAPER
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Ombudsman Office will
conduct studies in the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg) in
order to fund out if the sentence passed on Arman Babajanian,
editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Zhamanak Yerevan", was in line with
European precedent law on fair trial. The RA Ombudsman Armen
Harutyunian stated at the September 14 press conference that the
European precedent law related to other spheres will be studied as
well.
In his opinion, 4 years' imprisonment was a severe punishment. A.
Harutyunian said that after returning from Strasbourg, he will make a
statement about the editor's case. To recap, the above mentioned
court ruling was made based on charges of military service evasion
and document forgery.
The RA Ombudsman noted that the in the past 5-6 months, acts of
violence against reporters seem to have become a system."
Nevertheless, these instances of violence, as well as the cases when
innocent citizens became victims of street settlement of old scores
should not make one arrive at the conclusion that the society and the
freedom of speech are not protected. He expressed an opinion that
such cases are indicative that the protection of the society and
citizens shows "dangerous tendencies" to decline.
Sept 15 2006
TO RA OMBUDSMAN, 4 YEARS' IMPRISONMENT IS SEVERE PUNISHMENT FOR
EDITOR OF "ZHAMANAK YEREVAN" NEWSPAPER
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 15, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Ombudsman Office will
conduct studies in the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg) in
order to fund out if the sentence passed on Arman Babajanian,
editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Zhamanak Yerevan", was in line with
European precedent law on fair trial. The RA Ombudsman Armen
Harutyunian stated at the September 14 press conference that the
European precedent law related to other spheres will be studied as
well.
In his opinion, 4 years' imprisonment was a severe punishment. A.
Harutyunian said that after returning from Strasbourg, he will make a
statement about the editor's case. To recap, the above mentioned
court ruling was made based on charges of military service evasion
and document forgery.
The RA Ombudsman noted that the in the past 5-6 months, acts of
violence against reporters seem to have become a system."
Nevertheless, these instances of violence, as well as the cases when
innocent citizens became victims of street settlement of old scores
should not make one arrive at the conclusion that the society and the
freedom of speech are not protected. He expressed an opinion that
such cases are indicative that the protection of the society and
citizens shows "dangerous tendencies" to decline.