Amnesty International law organization has published its annual report, which writes that in 2007 the independence of media and free speech was limited in Armenia. The report also brings concrete facts. “In October 2007 chief editors of newspapers Nikol Pashinyan and Shogher Matevosyan were arrested for participating in a rally organized by ex-president and opposition candidate Levon Ter-Petrosyan. There was an explosion near the editorial office of Chorrord Ishkhanutyun newspaper on December 13. In the same month the government persecuted GALA TV company in Gyumri city after it managed to broadcast Ter-Petrosyan’s speeches despite their warnings not to do so,” writes the report. Amnesty International has also referred to the persecutions and intimidation on correspondent of Chorrord Ishkhanutyun and Aravot newspapers Gagik Shamshyan. The report writes that the intimidation and violence against him started after he announced about the fact of being beaten up by the Nubarashen community head’s loyalists. The report also covers the death of Levon Gulyan in the police department of Yerevan in May 2007 and states that his relatives don’t agree with the version of the police according to which he died when trying to escape from the police department window by jumping down. In the section concerning religion the report writes that attacks and intimidation on witnesses of Jehovah are not investigated in a duly manner, people who don’t want to serve because of their religion are arrested and that the authorities don’t apply a real alternative to army service.”
