{"id":8095,"date":"2017-05-07T02:11:58","date_gmt":"2017-05-07T02:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media.am\/media-battle-v-corruption-media-alerted-from-behind-bars-part-ii\/"},"modified":"2017-05-07T02:11:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-07T02:11:58","slug":"media-battle-v-corruption-media-alerted-from-behind-bars-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/critique\/2017\/05\/07\/8095\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Battle v. Corruption: Media Alerted from Behind Bars (Part II)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mediamart<\/em> (Media Battle) is a digital game developed by the Media Initiatives Center [also responsible for this site] for journalism enthusiasts. Independent Armenia\u2019s media already has more than a quarter of a century of history, but media coverage of corruption (the fight against corruption) is more like a game in terms of effectiveness. <\/p>\n

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2. Media Alerted from Behind Bars (Part II)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cDollars in the Criminal Code\u201d reads the headline of one of the articles in Golos Armenii<\/em> newspaper (Jan. 20, 2009). A fight between two minors ended in a stabbing. Kotayk Division Police investigator Serob Khachatryan, head of the department Viktor Papyan discovered, asked for $5,000 from the stabber\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

National Security Service (NSS) employees arrested the investigator on the spot \u2014 the money was in a copy of the Criminal Code. It\u2019s symbolic: the Criminal Code is not a means of punishing the guilty, but a source of bribes and a place for corrupt police officers to hide them.<\/p>\n

Another source of illegal income is pre-trial detention. Here is a clip<\/a> from the joint Armenian Helsinki Association and Epress.am film 72 Hours After Freedom: Torture in Police Custody<\/em> (filmmaker: Tigran Paskevichyan).<\/p>\n

In the case of another detainee, Mher Andreasyan, the police responded only when the torture became public. \u201cThe beatings ceased as a result of not the police officers\u2019 \u2018mercy\u2019 but their fear. They saw that Andreasyan lost consciousness, after which they called an ambulance. The paramedics who arrived on the scene provided medical aid to the victim and left\u201d (Haykakan Zhamanak<\/em>, \u201cSevere Beatings in Police Custody<\/a>,\u201d Nov. 30, 2012).<\/p>\n

The film presents also cases where the detainee was beaten in police custody that neither the doctor nor the media could save him. Gyumri native Galust Dilanyan\u2019s body was returned to his relatives one day after he was detained.<\/p>\n

The law requires that pre-trial detention not be of a punitive nature, but, according to the film\u2019s experts, it has turned into a real punishment. The competent authorities refuse 90% of motions to change the precautionary measure, moreover, with the management\u2019s required approval. Following the ordeals in pre-trial detention is the interconnected corrupt pressure on the accused of the court, prosecution, and often even the attorneys.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no coincidence that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regularly overrules the rulings of judges in Armenia. CivilNet saw this process fairly within the series \u201cFrom Your Pocket\u2026<\/a>\u201d: the judges, being subjected to money or political pressure, deliver an unjust ruling, while the state budget \u2014 which is generated by our, Armenian citizens\u2019 taxes \u2014 compensates the damage.<\/p>\n

A significant number of such ECtHR rulings refer to the March 1, 2008 attacks against demonstrators protesting the official election results. Rulings on residents evicted from their homes under the guise of eminent domain are also numerous. Tigran Paskevichyan\u2019s film Otarum<\/em> (Alienation) is dedicated to the problems of former owners of surrounding area of Yerevan\u2019s Northern Avenue. The filmmaker describes how the ruling authorities have \u201cboycotted\u201d the journalistic investigation.<\/p>\n