Epress.am News from Armenia
Epress.am cameraman Tigran Hakobyan (pictured), who was detained on Tuesday morning while covering the demonstration on Baghramyan Avenue in central Yerevan, was released from the police station in the Malatia-Sebastia administrative district at around 3 PM, after spending more than 9 hours in police custody.
Hakobyan was attacked by law enforcement officers during the brutal dispersal of the protest sit-in outside the RA Presidential Residence: police hit Hakobyan in the head with a baton, seized his camera, twisted his arms, verbally assaulted him, and took the reporter to the station, despite our correspondent declaring several times he was a journalist and was performing his professional duties.
Hakobyan demanded that police officers return his camera; subsequently, one of the officers threw the camera into the car through the window; however, as it turned out, the memory card had been taken out of it.
After spending three hours in custody, Hakobyan was questioned as a witness. The investigator asked whether Hakobyan knew who had brought speakers to Baghramyan Avenue, who had whistled during the demonstration. Hakobyan refused to sign anything but his testimony. Investigators, Hakobyan said, logged that he was present at Baghramyan Avenue as a journalist and was performing his professional duties.