The union of Armenian journalists strongly condemns the actions of law enforcement officers against members of the press. According to a statement released by the union, journalists covering the police officers’ activities on the streets were suddenly and violently attacked and subjected to excessive force by the police after leaving their homes in the morning. The incident took place near the headquarters of AntiFake.am, an organization that promotes investigative journalism and is led by filmmaker and journalist Narék Samsonyan.

Although Samsonyan himself was not directly targeted in this incident, he easily could have been if not for the attention brought to it by the video footage that was published. The violence against journalists covering police brutality is particularly deplorable in the context of ongoing restrictions on freedom of expression and the media in Armenia.

The harassment of Samsonyan is viewed as a clear attempt to impede the flow of information from the court hearings related to the political unrest in the country. The union of Armenian journalists strongly opposes such actions coming from the professional environment of the court.

The situation for Armenian journalists is currently challenging. Ruben Melikyan, the president of the Union of Journalists, expressed his strong condemnation of the harassment against Narék Samsonyan, stating, “We condemn the harassment of Narék Samsonyan in the strongest possible terms.”