Violence against Nikol Pashinyan is instructed by 'presidential administration'

A group of editors of some Armenian media outlets convened a press conference today over the recent developments related to the jailed Chief Editor of local Armenian daily Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Times) Nikol Pashinyan, demanding not to secure his safety but rather to release him.

Human rights defender Vardan Harutyunyan said that Pashinyan has been removed into a punishment cell and will spend 15 days there.

"If a person is arrested and further persecuted in prison for what he has said and written, that should be a signal for us all that it is unacceptable. It is always unacceptable, it is unacceptable especially now in independent Armenia. The authorities were not able to prove in any way that Nikol Pashinyan has done any acts that run counter the Constitution," Chief Editor of local Armenian daily Aravot (Morning) Aram Abrahamyan said.

Chief Editor of A1+ news website Mesrop Movsisyan in turn said that in the same way all editors attending the press conference may find themselves in prison too.

"In that way we may find ourselves in prison tomorrow," he said.

According to Chief Editor of local Armenian daily Hraparak (Square) Armine Ohanyan, the fact that Nikol Pashinyan was removed into a punishment cell after his supporters rallied in front of Prosecutor General's Office and demanded his release, is a blow for Armenian media outlets.

"That is a blow for us, for media outlets," said she, adding that human rights protection in Armenia is at a "zero level."

Arman Babajanyan, Editor-in-Chief of local Armenian daily Zhamanak (Time), said the recent attack against Pashinyan, according to his sources, was triggered by one of his recent articles about an Armenian oligarch and his family.

Anna Hakobyan, Pashinyan's wife and Director of Dareskizb LLC, dismissed those reports as untrue, adding, that all the violence against Nikol is instructed by the presidential administration and is aimed at hindering his political activity and to silence him as a journalist.

"All the violence against Nikol is instructed directly from the presidential administration," she said.