Thursday, April 13, 2006

DEMOCRACY WAS ABOLISHED TWO YEARS AGO

A1+
[08:49 pm] 12 April, 2006


At night of April 13, 2004 the authorities used all the forces of the police, water-spraying cars, batons and explosives to fight against they own people. They even blocked several parts of the streets. And all this because the people used their Constitutional right to organize peaceful demonstrations to demand a confidence referendum against the President.

The unprecedented violations resulted in tens of injured. Two years ago the rights of the journalists were violated harshly: representatives of several Mass Media - journalist of the newspaper "Armenian Times" Hayk Gevorgyan and cameraman of the TV Company ORT Levon Grigoryan were beaten severely, and their cameras were broken.

In the picture the policeman is trying to forbid the representative of "A1+" to take photos of what is going on in the Baghramyan avenue. It is noteworthy that there were no representatives of the Armenian "free and fair" TV Companies. Being closed down by the authorities "A1+" still tried to do its professional duty representing unbiased information about the incidents to people. The "A1+" website worked online, and the "A1+" staff provided NTV, ORT, Rossia, Reuters and other foreign TV Companies with impartial information and photos.

After April 13, 2004 many international organizations made condemning statements. But that changed nothing in Armenia. The fact is that the common citizens felt on their skin that one fair word in Armenia is equal to one hit with a baton.

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