ARMENIAN JOURNALIST SURVIVES APPARENT MURDER ATTEMPT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000302 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL AM SUBJECT: ARMENIAN JOURNALIST SURVIVES APPARENT MURDER ATTEMPT YEREVAN 00000302 001.2 OF 002 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) On April 30 journalist and attorney Argishti Kivirian was brutally attacked in his apartment building in the early morning hours upon returning home from work. Kivirian's wife, Lusine Sahakian, is also an attorney known for defending former prosecutor Jhangirian and his brother in a highly politically charged trial, which could be another possible motive for the attack. Kivirian remains hospitalized with severe injuries. Police have launched an investigation. END SUMMARY. -------------- MOST BRUTAL ATTACK ON A JOURNALIST SO FAR -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Around 5am on April 30, three unknown assailants attacked Argishti Kivirian with wooden batons in the entrance hall of his apartment building as he was returning home from his office. Kivirian's wife and sister ran out of their apartment when they heard noise from the scuffle, and they heard three gun shots before the assailants ran away. (Note: Apparently this was the regular time when Kivirian returned from work. End note.) According to the family members, Kivirian, who was covered in blood, had managed to explain that one of the attackers had tried to shoot him, but he had managed to divert the bullets by holding away the hand of the shooter. Kivirian was rushed to a hospital with severe injuries and cuts on his head and body, and was placed in intensive care. He remains in the hospital and his condition, initially evaluated as grave, is currently not life-threatening. -------------- MOTIVES BEHIND THE ATTACK UNCLEAR -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Lusine Sahakyan told Emboff that in addition to gunshots, she heard the assailants shouting "we are going to kill you anyway" as they ran away. She hypothesized that the attackers wanted to beat her husband to death to deliver a point, and resorted to guns only when they heard people running to the scene. She was reluctant to talk about what might have triggered the murder attempt, saying that it could be related to the professional activity of either one of them. In a press conference held on May 5, human rights activist Avetik Ishkhanian said that he is sure that the attack aimed to kill Kivirian based on a "political order." ¶4. (SBU) Kivirian maintains two news websites: Armenia Today and Bagin. The first one focuses on local news (with an independent editorial slant that is neither pro-government nor pro-opposition). The other covers news of Javakh, the Armenian-populated region of southern Georgia. (Comment: Media contacts told Emboffs that to their knowledge Kivirian had done nothing out of the ordinary in his news coverage on either site, and that both of these are rather low-profile news sources in Armenia. End Comment) ¶5. (SBU) Lusine Sahakian gained prominence through defending former Deputy Prosecutor General Gagik Jahangirian, who was arrested shortly after publicly voicing support for opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian in February 2008. She is also involved in numerous other trials of opposition supporters. Sahakian reported that police guarded the hospital for the first day; since then, she and other friends and family have maintained a vigil to ensure that Kivirian is never left alone. -------------- POLICE ACTIONS RAISE SUSPICIONS -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Photos taken immediately after the attack by an opposition-leaning free lance journalist, Gagik Shamshian, show a bloody scene with one wooden baton left behind by the attackers and two bullet shells. These bullet shells, however, were missing from photos taken less than an hour after, once the police had arrived and conducted their examination of the crime scene. Police launched an investigation into the case under charges of "infliction of willful light damage to health," and say they have not found any evidence of shooting. (Comment: The charge noted in the investigation seems to us mild given the severity of the attack. End comment ¶7. (SBU) One of our Political FSNs lives in the building where the attack occurred. While she personally did not hear anything, her family members did hear the noise of the attack, including the gun shots. Our FSN reported that witnesses questioned by police said the investigators were skeptical of reports of gunshots, and tried to persuade witnesses that the sounds might have been some other sort of loud noise. YEREVAN 00000302 002.2 OF 002 -------------- IMPUNITY LEAVES JOURNALISTS UNPROTECTED -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Human rights and media organizations, opposition parties, some MPs, Human Rights Defender Armen Harutyunian, as well as the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos Haraszti condemned the attack and called on the Armenian authorities to conduct a swift investigation. According to Haraszti and others, the lack of prosecutions in cases of violence against journalists creates an atmosphere of impunity for the perpetrators and can provoke other similar attacks. YOVANOVITCH