On Wednesday evening the police detained correspondent of Chorrord Ishkhanutyun newspaper Ani Gevorgyan and operator of iLur.am Sargis Gevorgyan when they were making a video story about the activists urging people to join the action of protest, to be held on Mar 1 2014 in memory of the victims of the Mar 1 2008 events. In the police department the chief hit the woman in the face and seized and destroyed the video.
Several human rights and journalistic organizations, namely Yerevan Press Club, Committee for the Protection of Freedom of Expression, Helsinki Committee and others released a joint statement on Thursday. They demand that the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office should accept their publication as an official crime statement. The human rights advocates also demand that the Police should launch official investigation and punish the culprits. The statement also says that the cases of Police's crude pressure on media representatives while in execution of their professional duty have recently become frequent.