OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL: STATEMENT ON ATTACK ON

UNCLAS STATE 046296 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OSCE PREL PGOV PHUM AM SUBJECT: OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL: STATEMENT ON ATTACK ON ARMENIAN JOURNALIST ¶1. Post is authorized to present the following statement at the May 7, 2009, Permanent Council meeting in Vienna: Begin text: Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Concerns about the safety of journalists and the need for vigilance by the governments of participating States in defending media workers from violence and intimidation were underscored again last week. In this instance, we have the report from Armenia of an attack and severe beating on April 30 of journalist Argishti Kiviryan, coordinator of the Armenia Today information portal. The Representative for Freedom of the Media took note of this case and of other troubling cases that preceded it. The United States urges the government of Armenia to redouble its efforts to protect media workers and to do all in its power to investigate, apprehend, and prosecute the perpetrators of this assault and of the other still unsolved cases that Mr. Haraszti cited in his press release about this incident. We would welcome progress reports from the Armenian delegation about Armenia's handling of all these cases, and hope that arrests and indictments will be forthcoming in all of them. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. CLINTON