Court of Appeal again adjourns hearing of journalist's case (video)
Armenia’s Court of Appeal again adjourned hearing of a journalist’s appeal against the decision of a lower court after the judge asked the prosecutor to forward him the case materials for a detailed study. Marine Khachatryan, a journalist working with A1+ Company, and her legal representative, went to the Court in October requesting the latter to discard the decision of the Court of Genereal Jurisdiction of Yerevan’s Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun administrative districts and oblige the investigative body to continue the inquiry into a last September incident near the National Assembly in Yerevan. On September 9, 2014, after members of the Hakaharvats (Counter Attack) street art group hung a banner reading “Hello Rob” (Rob referring to Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan) on the National Assembly’s main gate, the chief of the NA security Karen Hayrapetyan came out and tore down the banner. Then he hit A1+’s journalist Marine Khachatryan, who was covering the incident, on the arm, causing her to drop her recording device – iPad – to the ground. Karen Hayrapetyan then tried to hit the journalist for a second time but he missed her. Karen Hayrapetyan continued to hinder her work even after the journalist introduced herself. “The Prosecutor’s Office says when the official hit the journalist in the hands he did not know that she was a journalist, hence he did not commit an offense. We think that it does not matter whether he was aware of not, it is more important that he a journalist’s activities were discontinued,” said lawyer Ara Ghazaryan. The next court sitting is scheduled for November 26.
