Journalist attacked for criticizing Yerevan Municipality 

ArmInfo.  Former press secretary of the Yerevan City Hall, journalist Hakob Karapetyan was attacked after criticizing the fine system introduced by the  capital's city hall for non-payment of fares. The journalist is sure  that the attack on him was organized by the head of the Public Order  Service of the Yerevan City Hall, Avetik Babayan.

As Karapetyan said on his Facebook page, after he shared a  publication about how Yerevan City Hall employees illegally fined a  woman on a bus in conditions when she had paid for her fare. The  journalist stated that in this publication he expressed his position  on this incident, and in general on the fine system introduced by the  Yerevan City Hall. Karapetyan added that after this publication, a  certain Facebook user, Avetik Babayan, began to threaten him.

According to the journalist, he found out that the user Avetik  Babayan is none other than the chief police officer of the city of  Yerevan.

Karapetyan added that after Babayan's threats, he contacted two  high-ranking city officials, one of whom is directly responsible for  coordinating personnel issues. "I tell him what happened and hope  that they will take appropriate measures regarding his behavior. Two  days later, having received no response from the municipality, I find  Babayan's work contacts in open sources, give the secretary my phone  number and ask him to call back. A few hours later, Babayan calls and  starts threatening again ("tell me where you are, I'll come and break  your legs," etc.). Again, using accessible expressions, I try to make  him understand that he is an official and it would be better for him  to fulfill his duties. I consider this incident closed," Karapetyan  continues. 

According to him, two weeks later, in the evening, when he was  leaving work, a masked man attacked him and began beating him. "I am  convinced that the attack on me and the events described above are  directly related. Of course, that same evening I contacted law  enforcement agencies and I hope that they will study the available  evidence, the threats against me (which are documented) and the CCTV  footage from the area on the day of the attack. All of this, of  course, happened at least with the tacit consent of the authorities.  Common sense dictates that a person like Avetik Babayan should be  kept away from public service, especially from maintaining public  order. Meanwhile, Tigran Avinyan not only entrusted him with an  important position, but also did not take any steps to eliminate the  misunderstanding that arose based on the information I provided.  One  of two things: either Avinyan is in solidarity with him and defends  his former protector, or he is not aware of this incident. In any  case, this proves one thing: the dog in the mayor's office does not  know its owner," the journalist stated.