Today, an incident occurred in the National Assembly (NA) between Artur Sukoyan, Levon Kocharyan’s assistant, MP of the Armenia faction of the National Assembly, and Davit Levonyan, a journalist of Civic.am. According to the latter, Arthur Sukoyan hit him for his publication regarding the leader of the Diocese of Tavush of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan.
According to the deputies of the Armenia faction, there was a scuffle, which started after the journalist cursed.
However, a legal process has started, and it is within the domain of law enforcement agencies to carry out a full, comprehensive and fair investigation of what has happened.
The Union of Journalists of Armenia condemns any manifestation of violence, any pressure on journalists due to their work and professional activity.
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It should be noted, however, that what happened is the result of the double standards adopted by the law enforcement system.
Let’s remind that neither the RA General Prosecutor’s Office, nor the investigative body, nor the police reacted in any way when the acting vice-president of the National Assembly, Hakob Arshakyan, hit the journalist Paylak Fahradyan in the cafe and broke his computer, when in the National Assembly, CC MPs Artur Hovhannisyan and Kristine Poghosyan threatened journalist Karine Mangasaryan of the 5 TV, with street language and pulled the latter’s microphone, trying to drop it, when journalists Ani Gevorgyan and Suzy Badoyan were literally dragged out of the NA building by the order of NA Speaker Alen Simonyan, when the supporters of the ruling force hit Ani Gevorgyan live with a stick during Tigran Avinyan’s campaign, , when Ani Gevorgyan’s cameraman Janibek Khachatryan was inhumanely thrown to the ground in Tavush with handcuffs, when CC MP Khachatur Sukiasyan, showing reckless behavior, insulted Hripsime Jebejyan, a reporter of Aravot daily, when a real terror started after Nikol Pashinyan’s press conference against the same journalists Hripsime Jebejian and Ani Gevorgyan, when a few days ago the police pushed and threw the journalist of the website Oragir.news.am Ani Nerkararyan, when leaving his apartment, Narek Samsonyan, the founder of Antifake.am website, was inhumanely attacked from behind and knocked to the ground. The examples are numerous… No criminal proceedings were initiated in any of the above-mentioned cases.
Violence is reprehensible under any circumstances, but not only violence against one’s own people should be reprehensible. In general, the National Assembly is not a place to find out relations, but when the Parliament is headed by a person who allows himself to order to hold the hands of a citizen who has offended him, to spit on him, everything becomes, in fact, painfully possible.
The Union of Journalists of Armenia calls for mutual understanding through a civilized dialogue, not to resort to force or the threat of using force, not to obstruct the work of any journalist, regardless of the latter’s position on this or that issue, regardless of the fact that the journalist works in which media outlet, opposition or pro-government?
UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF ARMENIA