RFE/RL BUREAU CHIEF ASSAULT LATEST IN A SERIES OF

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SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PREL KDEM KPAO BBG AM
SUBJECT: RFE/RL BUREAU CHIEF ASSAULT LATEST IN A SERIES OF
INCIDENTS

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1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The acting Yerevan bureau chief of RFE/RL was
lightly injured in an assault August 18 by a man who proclaimed
anti-RFE/RL sentiments during the attack. CDA met with RFE/RL
officials August 20 to discuss the incident, and the general
situation of RFE/RL in Armenia, which had seemed to be improving.
This incident follows the August 12 beating of opposition reporter
Lusine Barseghian, and May/June assaults on opposition-related youth
activists. END SUMMARY.

ASSAULT ON RFE/RL PROGRAMMING TURNS LITERAL
--------------


2. (SBU) Acting Yerevan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty bureau chief
Hrach Melkumian was assaulted in a well-traveled, downtown Yerevan
park on the evening of August 18 while walking home from the office
not long before sunset. The assailant called out to Melkumian by
name, Melkumian turned and allowed the man to approach, whereupon he
was abruptly attacked bare-handed. The assailant continued hitting
Melkumian for several minutes, all the while uttering harsh
statements about RFE/RL's content, alleging the radio station is too
pro-oppositional. Passers-by declined to intervene, nor did police
stationed at a busy intersection no more than 30 yards away.
Melkumian eventually was able to escape the scene. When he returned
some minutes later in search of his eyeglasses, which had been lost
in the scuffle, he was startled to find his attacker still at the
scene, sitting and speaking calmly into a mobile telephone.
Melkumian went to the police station to record a complaint, and was
later accompanied to the scene of the attack by two police officers,
hoping to catch sight of the attacker, who by that time had left.
Melkumian was treated for minor injuries at the local hospital.
President Serzh Sargsian publicly condemned the attack on Melkumian
and ordered police to investigate, and the Prosecutor General
announced that a criminal case had been launched.


4. (SBU) Post obtained from Melkumian the basic outline of the
story on August 19, and Melkumian visited the embassy August 20,
calling on CDA with two RFE/RL managers coincidentally visiting from
Prague to interview candidates for the bureau chief position.
(Melkumian is ordinarily based in Prague, where he works for the
Armenia Liberty service, but has filled in as temporary Yerevan
bureau chief since May. Melkumian was previously the Yerevan bureau
chief for many years before being promoted to the Prague position.)
After a brief discussion, CDA and RFE/RL visitors agreed that the
incident seemed clearly to be a targeted attack by an individual
sympathetic to the ruling Armenian regime, but beyond that it is
impossible to say.

RFE/RL'S UPS AND DOWNS IN ARMENIA
--------------


5. (SBU) The discussion moved on to RFE/RL's ongoing search for a
new bureau chief, which RFE/RL hoped to have wrapped up within three
weeks. RFE/RL managers acknowledged that the Yerevan bureau has
lately been roiled by competing personality cliques mirroring the
political polarization in Armenian society, with some staff
sympathetic to the opposition and others with family ties to the
ruling party. The hope is that new leadership of the bureau may be
able to bridge this divide, though the Prague-based management
opined that such divisions are not unusual in newsrooms in most
Western capitals. (COMMENT: This glib assertion understates the
level of bitter acrimony and politically-motivated back-biting that
has plagued the Yerevan bureau since the 2007/2008 election cycle,
but this probably amounts to RFE/RL seeking to keep its dirty
laundry private. END COMMENT)


6. (SBU) The Prague managers insisted that there was never any merit
to government claims of bias during the election campaign, and if
there were, RFE/RL could obviously never fire editorial staff under
outside political pressure, and that any perceived improvement in
the balance of RFE/RL coverage was simply a result of an ongoing
RFE/RL push to improve rigor, balance, and professionalism across
the board. Nonetheless, the Prague managers were pleased at their
perception that Armenian authorities seemingly had ended their
crusade against RFE/RL, and noted the service had even been
complimented on a story by President Sargsian's press spokesman.
RFE/RL is also once again invited to government press conferences,
which had stopped during the earlier period of acrimony between the
government and RFE/RL. Poloff commented that it was former
President Kocharian, and not then-PM Serzh Sargsian, who harbored a
particularly sharp personal animus against RFE/RL. The RFE/RL
managers thanked CDA for the embassy's steadfast support and
advocacy with GOAM officials during the rocky period. We noted that
long-planned billboard advertisements of the Armenia Liberty Service
would soon appear across Armenia, funded by FSA assistance funds,
and that one purpose of this was to signal the U.S. Government's
backing for the RFE/RL network. (COMMENT: Again, our RFE/RL
colleagues seemed a bit more anxious to hide dirty linen than speak
frankly. Our impression is that the Armenia Liberty service had
aired at least a few programs that leaned a little far toward the
opposition, and RFE/RL management spotted a genuine problem with

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editorial controls and political balance, which they moved to
correct. Our billboard campaign will not make any explicit
reference to the U.S. Embassy, but our government interlocutors know
that we are paying for the billboards. END COMMENT)

OTHER RECENT ASSAULTS
--------------


7. (SBU) Several other assaults in recent months reveal the
continuing ferment underlying the political situation. On August
12, Lusine Barseghian, of the strongly pro-LTP newspaper Haykakhan
Zhamanak (Armenian Times) was ambushed outside her parents'
apartment building, and was briefly hospitalized for injuries
sustained from kicks and punches. The assailants soon fled as
passers-by began to gather. Opposition newspapers all decried the
incident as the handiwork of pro-government thugs seeking to
intimidate the strident Haykakhan Zhamanak staff.


8. (SBU) Two opposition-linked youth activists were assaulted in
May and June, while a prominent human rights NGO leader was attacked
by a known pro-government agitator. On May 21, Mikhael Danielyan,
who heads the well-known and reliable Helsinki Association human
rights NGO, was attacked with an air pistol that fires tear gas
capsules by a thuggish pro-government activist, Tigran Urikhanian.
Urikhanian was questioned by police, but never charged despite clear
witnesses to the attack. On May 28, Arsen Kharatian, a leader of
the pro-Levon Ter-Petrossian (LTP) opposition youth movement Sksel
(Start),was assaulted by several other youths in downtown Yerevan,
and hospitalized with moderate head injuries. On June 25, another
opposition youth activist, Narek Hovakimian, from the pro-LTP Hima
(Now) movement, was pummeled by a small group of young men unknown
to him, and was hospitalized with injuries to his head and abdomen.


COMMENT
--------------


9. (SBU) These incidents of physical assault represent a continuing
pattern of harassment and danger for journalists and activists
perceived as hostile to the current authorities. None of these
cases has been solved by police. The public statements by the
president and prosecutor general were welcome signs that authorities
are taking this most recent incident seriously. It seems to us
unlikely that these incidents were all just random attacks by angry
individuals -- our experience is that the pro-government circles do
not inspire such passionate loyalty as to arouse supporters to
spontaneous outbursts of partisan enthusiasm. Rather, these
incidents seem likely to have been directed by someone in the
pro-governmental constellation, but determining precisely who is
behind them is of course more difficult.

PENNINGTON