Photo journalist of Aravot and Chorrord Ishkhanutyun newspapers has been beaten up by the head of Bryusov university security service Karen Mirijanyan, who works for Guardman Mobile Ltd. The students of the mentioned university were striking at the office of Miasin initiative to demand proofs for their allegations that a number of lecturers were corrupt. After the strike the students walked to the university and Gagik Shamshayn was with them. When the students entered the university, the journalist tried to work there too but he was prevented and injured by the mentioned security officer. A deputy rector of the linguistic university joined the security officers as well to beat the journalist. At that time the journalist made several photos. Several hours later, when the journalist was at the office of radio liberty, he had sharp pain in the stomach and started to bleed. The journalist was taken to Nairi medical center to the department of rehabilitation. By the way, the ambulance arrived in 40 minutes after the call. They called the police and told about the incident as well but the police failed to visit the radio Liberty office to testimony the journalist and protect him. Some time later the police published an announcement reading that Mirijanyan had been taken to the police department of Kentron community and legal proceedings had been launched. The ombudsman of Armenia has come up with an announcement concerning the incident as well. “Such behavior to a journalist comes to prove again that there is intolerance in the society. The reason is the fact that such crimes have not been punished in the past,” reads the ombudsman’s statement. The committee of free speech protection, press club of Yerevan, Helsinki commission of Armenia, Transparency International, Internews and other agencies have condemned the crime against the journalist.
