On July 2, “Lradadar” club had organized a discussion on #ElectricYerevan: further steps of violence affected journalists. The discussion was attended by journalists, experts, lawyers and journalists that have been subjected to violence at the dawn of June 23. The latter first told what they witnessed that day in Baghramyan Avenue and in Freedom Square, they also talked about the next steps in the legal field. Afterward, the experts and the lawyers answered the raised questions and made recommendations on further steps. FIC lawyer Gevorg Hayrapetyan, after the end of the discussion, in the interview with Aravot.am, said that that fact that the affected journalists telling their personal stories during the discussion showed that the police have acknowledged for beating and detaining journalists. “These violations should not be neglected, not to reconcile with them and definitely file an appeal, be it by a criminal proceeding, a criminal-law procedure or an administrative procedure. Definitely, we should file an appeal, it is necessary to check the legality continuously, not to avoid any instance”.
According to the lawyer, the appeal itself is a result and the fact to turn to the court, regardless of everything, has a sobering effect. “For if the police officer has committed a violation, and the violation remains unpunished, an impunity atmosphere is created, he believes that it would slip away from his hands. And even if he is not punished, but he falls into a bragging, it bothers him and next time the likelihood is greater that he will refrain from doing such an act. Let us visualize such a situation, when there are tens or hundreds of lawsuits with the same content, this, on the one hand, is a very strong impetus generally to the public that something is wrong in this sphere and in this country.”
Gevorg Hayrapetyan emphasized that appealing to the court, the journalist shows that he is not so powerless and knows how to defend. “For example, if you want to kill a bee, it stings you the last moment and you will be tortured from pain for two days. You killed it, but you will continue living. Now, the journalist may not be suffice from the outcome, namely, his lawsuit be rejected, but only the point of applying will bother the police officer like a sting for some time. And this is very important for respecting the institute of the journalist. They have sufficient mechanisms of defense, they are implementing the role of public inspectors and if so, it means that should have features typical to the fourth government. This also includes being defended and attacking in the defense rights.
Ami CHICHAKYAN
