Criminal case over restriction of journalist’s professional activity launched in Armenia

A criminal case regarding the restriction of journalist’s professional activity has been launched in Armenia – Armenian mass media report.

On 12 May, two days ahead of Yerevan’s Council of Elders election, Anna Zakharyan, a reporter from the Haykakan Zhamanak (The Armenian Times) daily, noticed some people distributing pre-ticked ballot papers and electoral bribes in the form of AMD 20,000 to citizens at the campaign office of the Republican Party candidate, Taron Margaryan.

As reported, the journalist tried to film the process, but local ‘influential guys’ grabbed her phone and deleted its entire content, including the video that she had just filmed. Anna Zakharyan’s camera was returned to her only after all fingerprints had been wiped off from its surface with a napkin.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted over the ‘restriction of journalist’s professional duties’ and public vote-buying.

The Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper reported later that the journalist managed to restore the video, which is available here.