Journalistic organizations expressed outrage at unjustified  aggression and cruelty of RA law enforcement officers against media  covering protests

ArmInfo. A number of journalistic organizations issued a statement expressing outrage at the unjustified aggression and cruelty of Armenian law enforcement officers against media representatives covering protests against the border delimitation process in the Armenian-Azerbaijani contact zone, as well as unjustified violence.

The statement recalls that on April 27, on the Ijevan-Kirants highway  in Tavush region, masked police stopped a car carrying media  representatives, took their car out, threw the operator of the  NewDay.am news site Janibek Khachatryan to the ground, handcuffed him  and tried to detain him.

"Numerous warnings that the person in question was a media  representative, together with his colleagues, was covering the  protests taking place in those days, remained unanswered. The  cameraman was released a little later.

On the same day, when dispersing a protest rally of citizens in the  village of Dsegh in the Lori region of the Yerevan-Tbilisi road,  police interfered with the professional activities of employees of  the Oragir.News website covering these actions. The police officers  used brutal force against Journalist Ani Nerkararyan - she was  injured, and cameraman Zaven Ohanyan was forced to stop filming," the  statement states.  It is also recalled that in a statement issued on  April 25, issued in connection with a similar incident, they had  already noted that it had become a common modus operandi for the  police to harass, assault and use violence against media  representatives performing their professional duties during protests.   "We also emphasized that all this, as a rule, goes unpunished.

We confirm the previously voiced demands to conduct an immediate  internal investigation and bring to justice police officers who  abused their powers, as well as to eliminate the vicious practice of  repression against journalists by law enforcement agencies.

"In addition, we request the Government of Armenia to organize a  discussion with the participation of senior law enforcement  officials, journalistic organizations and media representatives to  resolve the abovementioned problems, make decisions to prevent  violations of the rights of journalists, and take effective measures  to stop illegal violence," the statement reads. 

The statement was signed by: Committee to Protect Freedom of  Expression, Yerevan Press Club, Media Initiatives Center, Freedom of  Information Center, Multilateral information institute - Armenia,  Public Journalism Club, "Journalists for the future" NGO,  "Journalists for human rights" NGO.