New York, July 7, 2006 -- The editor of an opposition daily has been jailed
in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, for more than two weeks without bail. Arman
Babadzhanian, editor-in-chief of Zhamanak Yerevan (Yerevan Times), faces up to
five years in prison for allegedly forging documents to avoid military service,
but the Committee to Protect Journalists and others are concerned that the
charge was prompted by his newspaper's critical reporting on government conduct.

Babadzhanian was arrested June 26, just days after the Armenian-language
newspaper published an article questioning the independence of the prosecutor
general's office, said Seda Muradian of the London-based Institute for War and
Peace Reporting (IWPR), which has followed the case closely. Authorities allege
that forgeries occurred in 2002, but they did not explain the delay in pressing
charges.

Press reports said the prosecutor general summoned Babadzhanian for questioning
as a witness in a criminal case but jailed him instead on the forgery charge.
News reports said that the editor allegedly confessed to forging documents to
avoid the draft, but press freedom and human rights groups are questioning the
prosecutors' motives.

Babadzhanian was being held today in the Nabarashen pretrial detention center in
Yerevan, according to the Yerevan Press Club. His lawyer unsuccessfully sought
Babadzhanian's release from preliminary detention while the case was pending.
CPJ sources said that Babadzhanian could remain imprisoned without bail for
weeks before the case proceeds.

Muradian, Armenia country director for IWPR, said the prosecutor's refusal to
grant Babadzhanian preliminary release on bail is very unusual in this type of
case. "Authorities are treating Babadzhanian as a dangerous criminal," Muradian
told CPJ.

On Wednesday, the Yerevan Press Club, Internews Armenia, the Committee to
Protect Freedom of Expression, the Helsinki Committee of Armenia, and other
local press freedom groups sent a letter to the prosecutor general's office
seeking Babadzhanian's release on bail. The groups also challenged the validity
of Babadzhanian's purported confession. Also on Wednesday, editors of seven
Armenian independent and opposition newspapers issued a statement saying
Babadzhanian's arrest was intended to intimidate the press.

"We are very concerned that the criminal case against Arman Babadzhanian may be
related to his journalism," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said today. "We
call on Armenian authorities to release him pending trial and make their
evidence against him public."

Babadzhanian's colleagues from Zhamanak Yerevan staged protests in front of the
prosecutor general's office for three days after their editor was arrested,
saying that the case is politically motivated and connected to the paper's
critical editorial stance, according to press reports.

Armenian independent press has come under pressure in recent years. The
independent television station A1+ has been refused a broadcast license 11 times
since it was taken off the air in 2002. In April 2005, legislation restricting
press coverage of terrorism was adopted. Retaliatory assaults against
journalists continue, especially in the provinces, and officials do little to
apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators, CPJ research shows.