On November 17th around 8 PM in Yerevan journalist and human rights defender, President of the “Investigative journalists” NGO, editor of the electronic newspaper HetqOnline was exposed to the violent attack. He was beaten and consequently transferred to the hospital. Currently his condition is stable and there is no threat for his life.

Edik Baghdasaryan is well known for raising in his articles and investigations hot issues concerning social, economic and public life. We are convinced that the attack is connected to the professional activities of Edik Baghdasaryan.

One of the main reasons that allowed this incident is the atmosphere of impunity in the country which is expressed by the facts that none of the recently frequent likewise cases were not uncovered by the law enforcement bodies.

Continuous atmosphere of the impunity along with the tolerance towards the violence against civil activists and journalists seriously threaten freedom of speech and democratic values in general in Armenia.

We strictly condemn occurred incident and call upon the authorities to take immediate measures to find and punish the criminals.

We express our determination to follow the case until the crime is revealed.