Court of Appeal to issue decision on A1+ journalist’s case
Soon Armenia’s Court of Appeal will issue a decision on the case of A1+ TV company journalist Marine Khachatryan. To remind, Marine Khachatryan, a journalist working with A1+ Company, and her legal representative, went to the Court in October requesting the latter to discard the decision of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan’s Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun administrative districts and oblige the investigative body to continue the inquiry into a last September incident near the National Assembly in Yerevan. On September 9, 2014, after members of the Hakaharvats (Counter Attack) 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, the chief of the NA security Karen Hayrapetyan 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 recording device – iPad – to the ground. Karen Hayrapetyan then tried to hit the journalist for a second time but he missed her. The SIS investigator decided to terminate the case in connection with the incident due to lack of corpus delicti. During today’s court hearing Judge Sevak Hambardzumyan was against shooting the court hearing by explaining that the case is connected with the journalist of the same TV company and to what extent the court hearing would be covered impartially. Later it was allowed to shoot the beginning of the court hearing. Artak Zeynalyan, the representative of journalist Marine Khachatryan, presented 54-page cases of impeding the activities of journalists to the Court, but the Judge didn’t attach it to the materials of the case. Prosecutor Hakob Yenokyan wasn’t present at today’s court hearing by explaining that he was at another court hearing. The court hearing was held without him.
