A leading Armenian investigative journalist known for stories exposing government corruption was hospitalized after an attack outside his office, the latest in a series of attacks on journalists in Yerevan, says this item: "Edik Baghdasarian, who heads the Armenian Association of Investigative Journalists and runs a Yerevan-based online magazine, Hetq, left his office in downtown Yerevan at about 8 p.m. Monday and shortly was ambushed and beaten by three unknown assailants as he was going to get into his car parked in the street, according to his own account."
Baghdasarian was quoted saying: “Right near the car two people attacked me and began to land heavy blows. I retaliated and we were exchanging blows. I punched one of them and since I was holding a mobile phone in my hand at that moment, the phone now has blood stains on it, presumably the blood of one of the attackers." The attackers fled when a security worker fired a shot into the air. The journalist says a computer disc was lost with several investigative stories that he planned for publication. He had recently written about corruption in Armenia’s mining industry.
Reporters Without Borders has called for a thorough investigation.
TAGS: journalists attacked
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