Lena Nazaryan (Hetq), Yerevan, 24 Nov 2008 – Mr. Harutyunyan, Edik Baghdasaryan is the 7th journalist to be physically assaulted this year. However, none of the guilty has been found in any of these cases and no one has faced punishment. What is the reason?
Till today I really haven’t seen a great desire to get at the truth. Perhaps, freedom of speech isn’t such an important value for our society and thus something to fight for. It’s curious that none of the organizers or individuals responsible for these attacks has been uncovered. In my estimation there simply isn’t the desire, otherwise it’s hard to believe that such a thing is impossible.
In your statement regarding what happened to Hetq’s editor-in-chief you stated that in the case that the crime isn’t solved it would be correct for the higher echelons of the Police Department to review the competency of the Department’s Investigations Units. Do you think that the government will implement your proposal?
Yes, if crimes are not solved perhaps it would be correct to review the issue of the competency of law enforcement. In normal countries such officials would at least resign from their positions if they were unable to reveal either the perpetrators or those ordering so many assaults. That is why we emphasize that if they are not capable of solving these crimes they should resign. I am not sure if the government will take such drastic action and demand the resignation of anyone or not. We, however, must harden our stance in order to reach our objective.
If certain individuals do not agree with press reports, why is it that they don’t take their complaints to the courts for redress? What does it say when matters are resolved in such a fashion and what is the thinking involved?
All this speaks to the absence of democracy and the inadequate defense when it comes to human rights. People do not seek other avenues of redress perhaps because they understand that an investigation of the matter will be taken up by the courts and, in the end, it will turn out that their protestations are baseless. They will open up an unwelcome can of worms by taking the matter to the courts. An innocent person, with nothing to hide, will always go to the courts to prove his innocence. At least, for the first time, we saw the Prime Minister visit the injured journalist in hospital. I am hopeful that in this case the political will exists to seriously investigate the matter and find the culprits. Contrary to other incidents, I see this difference here. I assure you that if the political will exists all other questions are resolved.
What is the underlying rationale for so many such assaults?
If the political system isn’t democratic the most troublesome person around is the reporter. Reporters will always find themselves in hot water. The “inconvenience” that reporters create leads to conflict and especially of the physical sort. The more democratic the system the more commonplace is the reporter that writes “hard-edged” news. Our political system has a tough time digesting what is written by an objective reporter.
What then must be done?
This is not just a problem for this or that reporter. It’s a problem for all of society. Tomorrow it will be the problem of another reporter, of another official. What remains is to struggle and to adopt a tougher stance when it comes to defending our rights.
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