June 17, 2020, Yerevan

Yesterday, on June 16, 2020 when “Prosperous Armenia” party leader Gagik Tsarukyan following his interrogation at the RA National Security Service went out to his supporters gathered in the area, as a result of scuffle as well as police actions, at least 5 journalists covering the process suffered. In particular, “News.am” correspondent Liana Sargsyan, “Tert.am” reporter Ani Gevorgyan, “Yerkir.am” correspondent Tatevik Kostandyan, “Kentron” TV journalist Artur Hakobyan and “MegaNews.am” editor Margarita Davtyan were injured.

According to the injured journalists, the media representatives found themselves surrounded by the police in the confusion, after which they were hit. Regardless of whether these actions were targeted or were conditioned by negligence or insufficient professional training, we note that the security forces not only failed to protect the journalists, but also hindered their work.

We, the undersigned journalistic organizations, condemn any violence against media representatives who perform their professional duties, and demand from the RA Police to carry out an objective internal investigation to study the incident and bring those responsible to justice.

At the same time, given that these events take place in the state of emergency conditioned by coronavirus, we urge media executives to keep away their employees from appearing in the center of gatherings of people while covering rallies, and in case it is impossible, to give clear instructions on complying with security measures.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB

MEDIA INITIATIVES CENTER

“ASPAREZ” JOURNALISTS’ CLUB

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CENTER

MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE-ARMENIA

PUBLIC JOURNALISM CLUB

“JOURNALISTS FOR THE FUTURE”

“JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS”

GORIS PRESS CLUB