A senior Armenian police officer has said the country's law enforcement authorities are doing their best to stop a spate of violent attacks against journalists.
Speaking at a news conference on May 8, Colonel Hovannes Tamamian, head of the Directorate-General of Criminal Investigations at the national police service, also said he believes the authorities should allow Armenian journalists to carry guns.
Mnatsakanian sustained injuries to head, legs. and hand. The announcement came shortly after savage attacks on journalists
Nver Mnatsakanian of private Shant TV and
Argishti Kivirian, editor of the Armenia Today news agency.
Both were attacked by unknown assailants outside their Yerevan homes.
Armenia’s leading media associations and civil rights groups have strongly condemned the attacks, saying they were made possible by the authorities’ failure to punish the perpetrators of previous instances of violence against journalists.
"I don’t believe that this case will be thoroughly and objectively investigated," Kivirian’s wife, Lusine Sahakian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Sahakian insists the attack was an attempt on her husband's life, even though the investigation continues to be conducted under an article of the Criminal Code that deals with assaults resulting in "light bodily injuries."