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REPORTER ATTACKED DURING REPUBLICAN PARTY CAMPAIGN STOP: POLICE ON THE SCENE FAIL TO INTERVENE
Ararat Davtyan
19:29, April 25, 2013
Hakob Karapetyan is a journalist working in Yerevan.
On April 23, Karapetyan was beaten, his camera ripped from his hands
and the film destroyed during a campaign rally organized by current
Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan. Margaryan, a member of the ruling
Republican Party, is seeking re-election to the post.
The police are still conducting an investigation of the incident
and it is not clear whether criminal charges will be brought against
the perpetrators.
Karapetyan, a reporter for the www.ilur.am news site, says that he
showed up a half hour early to a Republican Party campaign rally in
the Nor Nork #7 District.
"Groups of school kids were arriving and I went to ask them some
questions. They said that at school they were told that a concert
would take place and that they should go," said Karapetyan, noting
that the kids were not only from the seventh district but also from
the sixth and eighth.
Karapetyan photographed the festive table set up in the courtyard and
the #11 public taxi filled with balloons. The van had the campaign
slogan of the Republican Party emblazoned on it.
A young man approached the reporter and asked what was he recording
and when did he plan to leave.
"Then another guy wearing a red jacket approached. He took a much
more aggressive tone and asked what I was photographing. I told him
I was a reporter and I referred to the law, arguing that I had every
right to be there. The guy told me to get lost and photograph the
trees and flowers. I responded that I was photographing that which
I saw. He retorted that they would use their own laws and treat me
accordingly," recounts Karapetyan.
The reporter says he then turned the camera on the guy's friends and
asked that they identify him.
"When I started filming the others they started to push me and
hit my hands so that the camera would fall. Another guy in a blue
jacket, who was coordinating the arrival of the mayor, approached as
well. He then started to ask who I was and what I was filming. 'Hey
you revolutionaries, haven't you caused enough harm?' he said and
then hit me in the face," recounts Karapetyan, who was filming all
the time this took place. Later one of the guys was able to strip
the camera from him and destroy the film.
"My glasses fell and my shirt was ripped. There was a crowd of around
100 there but no one did a thing to help. They didn't even bring
water so I could clean the blood from my face," says Karapetyan,
adding that a top police official stood calmly to the side.
"I went to the official, a major, and asked where my glasses were.
He told me not to worry and that the crime squad would soon arrive. A
woman named Rouzan came up to me and started to scold me. 'Why are you
causing trouble? All of us were here and heard no insults directed
against you.' When the campaign got underway, that same woman took
the microphone, declaring that the residents of Nork wanted Taron
Margaryan to serve another five years as mayor.
[mayor.jpg] [ruzan.jpg] Police MajorWoman named Rouzan
Karapetyan was advised by the Jrvezh Police to report the incident
to one of the cops at the scene. The reporter refused. He's says he
doesn't trust them.
Karapetyan also says that he remained at the campaign rally and none
of the cops approached him during the entire forty minutes.
His camera was finally, without the film, returned after campaign
officials intervened.
Karapetyan again started to film and caught the guy who had hit him.
The culprit has been identified as Ashot Papayan, a current member
of the Yerevan Municipal Council and a member of the Republican Party.
Papayan is also seeking re-election to the Council on the Republican
Party ticket.
The reporter also filmed a man named Armen who was involved in the
ruckus. It turns out that the man is Armen Harutyunyan, who heads
the Yerevan Municipality's Department of Development and Investment.
But, it seems that the police are dragging their heels. The waited
four hours to take Karapetyan's account of the incident.
Just an hour ago, the Police Department issued a statement saying
that Yerevan Police Chief Ashot Karapetyan had launched an internal
investigation of the incident and that the findings were forwarded
to RA Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan.
Based on the findings, Vladimir Gasparyan has taken disciplinary
action against the policeman on the scene who failed to intervene
during the incident and issued a warning, The policeman's direct
superior was issued a "strict warning", and the deputy of the Nor
Nork Police Unit was dismissed.
P.S. Hetq has not been able to get in touch with Ashot Papayan
Photo: Hakob Karapetyan's Facebook page.
http://hetq.am/eng/news/25903/reporter-attacked-during-republican-party-camp
aign-stop-police-on-the-scene-fail-to-intervene.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Ararat Davtyan
19:29, April 25, 2013
Hakob Karapetyan is a journalist working in Yerevan.
On April 23, Karapetyan was beaten, his camera ripped from his hands
and the film destroyed during a campaign rally organized by current
Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan. Margaryan, a member of the ruling
Republican Party, is seeking re-election to the post.
The police are still conducting an investigation of the incident
and it is not clear whether criminal charges will be brought against
the perpetrators.
Karapetyan, a reporter for the www.ilur.am news site, says that he
showed up a half hour early to a Republican Party campaign rally in
the Nor Nork #7 District.
"Groups of school kids were arriving and I went to ask them some
questions. They said that at school they were told that a concert
would take place and that they should go," said Karapetyan, noting
that the kids were not only from the seventh district but also from
the sixth and eighth.
Karapetyan photographed the festive table set up in the courtyard and
the #11 public taxi filled with balloons. The van had the campaign
slogan of the Republican Party emblazoned on it.
A young man approached the reporter and asked what was he recording
and when did he plan to leave.
"Then another guy wearing a red jacket approached. He took a much
more aggressive tone and asked what I was photographing. I told him
I was a reporter and I referred to the law, arguing that I had every
right to be there. The guy told me to get lost and photograph the
trees and flowers. I responded that I was photographing that which
I saw. He retorted that they would use their own laws and treat me
accordingly," recounts Karapetyan.
The reporter says he then turned the camera on the guy's friends and
asked that they identify him.
"When I started filming the others they started to push me and
hit my hands so that the camera would fall. Another guy in a blue
jacket, who was coordinating the arrival of the mayor, approached as
well. He then started to ask who I was and what I was filming. 'Hey
you revolutionaries, haven't you caused enough harm?' he said and
then hit me in the face," recounts Karapetyan, who was filming all
the time this took place. Later one of the guys was able to strip
the camera from him and destroy the film.
"My glasses fell and my shirt was ripped. There was a crowd of around
100 there but no one did a thing to help. They didn't even bring
water so I could clean the blood from my face," says Karapetyan,
adding that a top police official stood calmly to the side.
"I went to the official, a major, and asked where my glasses were.
He told me not to worry and that the crime squad would soon arrive. A
woman named Rouzan came up to me and started to scold me. 'Why are you
causing trouble? All of us were here and heard no insults directed
against you.' When the campaign got underway, that same woman took
the microphone, declaring that the residents of Nork wanted Taron
Margaryan to serve another five years as mayor.
[mayor.jpg] [ruzan.jpg] Police MajorWoman named Rouzan
Karapetyan was advised by the Jrvezh Police to report the incident
to one of the cops at the scene. The reporter refused. He's says he
doesn't trust them.
Karapetyan also says that he remained at the campaign rally and none
of the cops approached him during the entire forty minutes.
His camera was finally, without the film, returned after campaign
officials intervened.
Karapetyan again started to film and caught the guy who had hit him.
The culprit has been identified as Ashot Papayan, a current member
of the Yerevan Municipal Council and a member of the Republican Party.
Papayan is also seeking re-election to the Council on the Republican
Party ticket.
The reporter also filmed a man named Armen who was involved in the
ruckus. It turns out that the man is Armen Harutyunyan, who heads
the Yerevan Municipality's Department of Development and Investment.
But, it seems that the police are dragging their heels. The waited
four hours to take Karapetyan's account of the incident.
Just an hour ago, the Police Department issued a statement saying
that Yerevan Police Chief Ashot Karapetyan had launched an internal
investigation of the incident and that the findings were forwarded
to RA Police Chief Vladimir Gasparyan.
Based on the findings, Vladimir Gasparyan has taken disciplinary
action against the policeman on the scene who failed to intervene
during the incident and issued a warning, The policeman's direct
superior was issued a "strict warning", and the deputy of the Nor
Nork Police Unit was dismissed.
P.S. Hetq has not been able to get in touch with Ashot Papayan
Photo: Hakob Karapetyan's Facebook page.
http://hetq.am/eng/news/25903/reporter-attacked-during-republican-party-camp
aign-stop-police-on-the-scene-fail-to-intervene.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress