On the night of December 19, unknown persons broke into the editorial office of Zhoghovurd daily and Armlur.am and destroyed the property there. Journalists found out about this in the morning as they entered the workplace.

The founder of the media outlet, now MP Taguhi Tovmasyan, says the incident is like a robbery, but no property is missing from the editorial board. They entered the office of the editor of “Zhoghovurd” daily Knar Manukyan, opened the reporters’ shelves and took her papers.

Taguhi Tovmasyan says they entered the editorial office from the balcony. The cord of the surveillance camera was cut off in advance.

Police officers carried out a technical inspection in the editorial office. Representatives of the Human Rights Defender’s Office, several MPs who had previously been involved in journalism, Arman Babajanyan, Sargis Khandanyan, Naira Zohrabyan and others, visited the scene.

“I went into the editorial office with law enforcement officers recently and it is obvious that this is not a theft, something else had interested the suspected criminals. As long as the police search the area, we can’t look at our belongings and see if something is missing or not,” Knar Manukyan, editor of the daily and website, told reporters.

She suspects that the incident is an attempt to intimidate the media and exert psychological pressure.

Journalistic organizations have issued a statement and strongly condemned the harassment of the editorial staff.

“We express our support to our partners and urge law enforcement to take all necessary measures to identify and bring the perpetrators to justice,” the statement said.

Gayane Asryan