Armenia: Dim Outlook for Media Freedom, Reporters Say

Despite heavy government emphasis on the importance of freedom of speech, the violence against Armenian journalists is continuing. Civil society leaders and reporters contend that officials' sluggish response masks either rank incompetence or an intention to keep the lid on government criticism. Government officials reject the charges as groundless.

The most recent encroachment upon media rights came in mid-November when Edik Baghdasarian, one of the country's best-known investigative journalists, was ambushed and badly beaten by two unknown men in Yerevan. The attack was the seventh reported case of violence against a journalist in Armenia this year.

"I am convinced that the attack was connected with my professional activity," said Baghdasarian, who has conducted attention-grabbing investigations into government corruption, the mining industry, and human trafficking for the online newsmagazine Hetq.am, which he heads, and other publications. "I am myself looking into this case now and I hope the case will be solved."

"It is not so difficult to disclose these cases of violence and find those responsible," continued Baghdasarian, who sustained cranial-brain injuries in the November 17 attack. "But, of course, willpower is needed for that."

The government has assured Armenian media that all steps are being taken to solve the Baghdasarian case. "Every act of violence against a journalist is condemnable," Samvel Farmanian, spokesman for President Serzh Sargsyan, commented to EurasiaNet.

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian, who visited Baghdasarian in the hospital, has taken a similar tact, telling reporters that "a dialogue with media is necessary to specify the rules of the game." Sarkisian did not specify other participants in such a dialogue. "The environment should be such that there is a reciprocally respectful attitude," public television reported him as saying.

Some Armenian reporters believe that Baghdasarian's prominence motivates much of the government's display of interest in his case. In September, the 46-year-old journalist was the runner-up for the prestigious Global Shining Light Award, a prize given to the world's best investigative journalists.

The government's assurances have so far done little to convince other Armenian reporters.

One political reporter for the opposition Haykakan Zhamanak daily contended that the authorities do nothing to investigate reported attacks against journalists.

"The prime minister's visit to Edik Baghdasarian in the hospital was a mere publicity stunt," charged Lusine Barseghian, who is known for her critical stories about the government and government-linked clans. "If the authorities are interested in exposing anyone, they would have done so. Meanwhile, in many cases they are the ones who order it."

Rafik Petrosian, a senior member of the governing Republican Party's parliamentary faction, countered that no one "praises" law-enforcement agencies for their "perfect work".

"There are unsolved murders. We condemn violence against journalists. However, the authorities are taking steps towards resolving these cases. It looks like Edik Baghdasarian's case is close to completion," Petrosian, who heads parliament's standing committee for state and legal affairs, told EurasiaNet.

He did not elaborate about the status of the Baghdasarian investigation. Police announced on November 26 that one man had turned himself in and admitted that he took part in the attack on Baghdasarian, yet allegedly declined to give further testimony.

But investigations into attacks on journalists do not necessarily come flush with results, noted Haykakan Zhamanak reporter Barseghian. On February 19, the day of the presidential vote, Barseghian herself was beaten at one Yerevan polling station while highlighting suspected fraud in favor of then Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, the government's favored candidate. A second attack came on August 11, when two unknown men attacked Barseghian from behind outside her apartment building.

"I definitely link what happened to me with my professional activities and there are concrete people and forces behind those who ordered the violence. . . " Barseghian said. "Criminal cases were started in both cases. However, no results have come so far. If our country were a law-abiding state, the cases would have been solved a long time ago."

Republican Party parliamentarian Petrosian scoffed at the allegation. "Is there any evidence that the authorities or any government official were behind the attack? I can't accept a journalist making serious accusations without any evidence. Had there been any verdict finding any government-linked person at fault, then they can confidently make such statements," affirmed Petrosian.

One human rights activist argues that the lack of visible punishment for such incidents only encourages additional attacks.

"If there has been practically no punishment, then two conclusions can be made here: either the professionalism of law-enforcement bodies in Armenia is below zero or, even if it wasn't they who did it, the state must prevent such cases," said Armenia Helsinki Committee Chairman Avetik Ishkhanian said. " . . . The authorities bear the responsibility, because they have failed to take preventive measures."

In a November 19 letter, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's
representative on press freedom matters Miklos Haraszti echoed that stance. "The aim of such crimes is to intimidate media workers in the country and obstruct investigative reporting," Haraszti wrote. "The lack of progress in resolving these cases could provoke further cases of violence against journalists."

Without such measures, commented Armenian Public Ombudsman Armen Harutiunian in a statement, "it would be correct that senior police discuss the issue of the competence of the organs conducting the investigations."

The Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders has marked the decline in Armenia's media environment. In 2008, the organization ranked Armenia 102nd out of 173 countries in its 2008 Worldwide Press Freedom Index - a sharp dip from the country's 77th position ranking a year before.

"The most significant development in the former Soviet periphery is the deterioration in the Caucasus," the report states, referring to "major problems" with free speech in Armenia and Georgia. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive.]