His Excellency President Robert Kocharian

Yerevan, Armenia
Email: [email protected] 
19 April 2004

Your Excellency,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, to express our serious concern at an attack on four journalists.

According to reports, on 13 April Avetis Babajanian and Ayk Gevorgian, reporters with the opposition daily Aykakan Zhamanak, Levon Grigorian, a cameraman with the Russian television channel ORT, and Mher Ghalechian, a journalist with the opposition weekly Chorrord Ishkhanutyun, were beaten while covering an opposition rally in Yerevan. Mr Grigorian was knocked unconscious during the attack and Mr Ghalechian was taken to a police station after photographing security officers outside the ransacked office of the opposition Hanrapetutyun party.

The protest rally began on the evening of 12 April when about 15,000 demonstrators marched towards the presidential residence calling for a referendum on presidential rule. In the early hours of 13 April, violence erupted and police used batons, stun grenades and water jets to disperse the crowd.

This is the second assault on journalists covering an opposition rally this month. On 5 April police reportedly stood by while some two dozen assailants smashed journalists' cameras, assaulted reporters and destroyed film footage of the events.

We respectfully remind you that it is the duty of the state to provide an environment in which journalists are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of intimidation. Such incidents foster a climate of fear that inhibits journalistic investigation and can promote self-censorship.

We respectfully call on you to ensure that a thorough investigation into the attack is conducted and that those responsible are swiftly brought to justice. We urge you to do everything possible to provide an environment in which journalists are able to carry out their profession without fear of violence.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Seok Hyun Hong 
President World Association of Newspapers

Gloria Brown Anderson
President World Editors Forum