Narek Tonoyan

On February 4, 2005 the Court of First Instance of the Kentron and Nork Marash Communities of Yerevan completed its examination of a case regarding the hindrance of the legal professional activity of Haykakan Zhamanak journalist Arman Galoyan, and Judge Gayane Karakhanyan issued a verdict.

On September 24, 2004, a group of employees of the GUM bazaar had attacked reporter Arman Galoyan, preventing him from doing his job. Galoyan had gone to the bazaar after being informed by kiosk owners that their kiosks were being dismantled. Certain bazaar employees didn't like the fact that a journalist was talking to the kiosk owners, trying to find out why they were protesting. They approached Arman Galoyan and asked him to leave the bazaar. When Galoyan kept working, a bazaar employee, cursing, attacked him and seized his tape recorder. When Galoyan continued to talk to the kiosk owners, he was attacked a second time - this time his attackers grabbed his notebook and tore up the pages containing his notes.

On February 4 th defendant Armen Vardanyan took the stand. He stated that because Galoyan "was disrupting the ongoing construction work while reporting," he had confiscated his tape recorder. And in order to avoid misunderstanding, he had immediately driven to a police station and handed the recorder over. The defendant also said that he was sorry for his conduct and was ready to compensate the reporter for losses, since according to an expert examination, the recorder had been broken.

Prosecutor Sergey Abrahamyan stated that the evidence proved that the defendant was guilty. He asked the court to take into consideration extenuating circumstances - the fact that the defendant had no previous convictions, had pled guilty, and was remorseful - and to sentence the defendant to 18 months imprisonment.

In his closing statement, the defendant repeated that he was sorry for what he had done and asked the court for a light penalty.

After some deliberation, Judge Gayane Karakhanyan read the verdict. The court found Armen Vardanyan guilty in accordance with Paragraph 1 of Article 258 (Breach of Copyright and Adjacent Rights) and Paragraph 1 of Article 164 (Hindrance to the Legal Professional Activities of a Journalist) of the Criminal Code of Armenia and sentenced him to 12 months of correctional labor, to be executed at his workplace. Vardanyan is required to turn over 20% of his earnings to the state.

The defendant was also ordered to pay Arman Galoyan compensation for damages in the amount of $50.

The defendant has 15 days to appeal the ruling, although it is unlikely that he will do so.