Yesterday some people in casual clothing (not a police uniform) attacked on Hayk Gevorgyan, Haykakan Zhamanak daily journalist, and took him in unknown direction. Later, it came to be known that Hayk Gevorgyan was taken to Nubarashen Penitentiary. The reason was nonsense, to put it mildly. Since January 23 Hayk was known to be under persecution for car accident. Only at 8pm the police only released a long-winded message about that “event”, which was even ridiculous than the event itself. During the press-conference Nikol Pashinyan, editor in chief of Haykakan Zhamanak daily, described the ”crime” (as per the official definition) as follows. In the morning of January 15 a road police officer came to Hayk, by saying the car insurance certificate was missing from the front window of his car. In response to policeman’s remark, Hayk said that it was a matter of time, and he will only stick the car insurance certificate in his car window only after when the chief of police does the same on his own car window. The police officer tried to fine Hayk, and Hayk said that he has no problem with the penalty; in condition that chief of police Vladimir Gevorgyan also should be fined because of the missing insurance certificate. According to Nikol Pashinyan, on the same day, Hayk went to the Ministry of Economy. When he left the ministry and sat into his car, he saw that a police car was standing behind his car. Hayk started the engine, but the policeman never moved from his place. Hayk gave a horn, but without any result, the policeman did not move his car away. Hayk opened his window and asked the citizen to move away from his way, and the citizen moved away. However, when driving back from his parking place, Hayk heard the citizen crying. Hayk could see that he had not heated anybody and left. After a few days we (editorial office) received an official notification from the Police. Since the car (which has been driven by Hayk Gevorgyan) is registered on Anna Hakobyan’s name (Nikol Pashinyan’s wife), Anna was called to the police station. Pashinyan asked to clarify on which status Anna was called to the police station. ”It was only written that Anna is called to police station, but the person can also be called to café or somewhere else, thus we asked the police to clarify whether she was called as a witness or a defendant, ” Nikol Pashinyan said during his press-conference. He also added that after two days from the mentioned incident another notification was received directed already to Hayk Gevorgyan, which however does not clarify Hayk’s status. In response to Pashinyan’s demands, the police officer has never brought any counterargument, never disturbed them ever since, before yesterday morning. That morning Hayk’s neighbors could see how 4-5 police cars surrounded him and arrested. “Vova Gasparyan organized a mask-show,” said Nikol Pashinyan yesterday, and added that “the order of arrest was given by someone who was under a drug influence.” With respect to number of absurdity in this story, there was another ridiculous fact about Hayk’s persecution. Many times Hayk entered the official structures (RA Government, Ministry of Finance and Economy, etc.), where there were many law enforcement bodies and police officers. They will allow the visitor in only after finding out his/her identity. In a word, it is evident that the incumbent authorities or some sectors of government are trying to take revenge on Hayk Gevorgyan for his open journalistic activities. This is one of the cases when all the journalists should unite their forces for releasing Hayk Gevorgyan.
