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Journalists should take case to European Court of Human Rights, says human rights activist

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Similar incidents will repeat unless the authorities pass from words to actions, Chairman of the Committee for Protection of Freedom of Speech (CPFS), said commenting on the September 9 incident outside the National Assembly in which the parliament’s chief of security used force against A1+ journalist. On September 9, after members of the Counterblow street art group hung a banner reading “Hello Rob” (Rob referring to Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan) on the National Assembly’s main gate, Karen Hayrapetyan, the chief of the NA security, came out and tore down the banner. Then he hit A1+’s journalist Marine Khachatryan, who was covering the incident, on the arm, causing her to drop her iPad. “Similar actions are usually held in democratic country. Now let us view the incident from another angle. Did the security official have a right to tear down the banner? He was to do it in a civilized way, without hindering journalist's work and harming him or her,” says Ashot Melikyan. Suren Deheryan, Chairman of the Journalists for Future” NGO, says journalists' work is frequently hampered during similar actions. Human rights activist Tigran Yegoryan, a member of the Europe in Law Association NGO added in turn that journalists should be consistent, apply to judicial institutions, and if they do not achieve success on a local level, appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. “At first, they will meet indifference but in the future these skinheads will not allow themselves to show disrespect for journalists and ordinary citizens,” he stressed. A number of media organizations issued a joint statement on Thursday, condemning the violence against the A1+ journalist daring the September 9 incident. They viewed it as an attempt to hamper the journalist’s professional activity and called on the legislature to make Karen Hayrapetyan, the chief of the parliament security, accountable for his misbehavior.