VZCZCXRO9425
RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHYE #0302/01 1281001
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081001Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9008
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION WASHINGTON DC
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0702

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000302 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIAN JOURNALIST SURVIVES APPARENT MURDER ATTEMPT 
 
YEREVAN 00000302  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) On April 30 journalist and attorney Argishti Kivirian was 
brutally attacked in his apartment building in the early morning 
hours upon returning home from work.  Kivirian's wife, Lusine 
Sahakian, is also an attorney known for defending former prosecutor 
Jhangirian and his brother in a highly politically charged trial, 
which could be another possible motive for the attack.  Kivirian 
remains hospitalized with severe injuries.  Police have launched an 
investigation.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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MOST BRUTAL ATTACK ON A JOURNALIST SO FAR 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Around 5am on April 30, three unknown assailants attacked 
Argishti Kivirian with wooden batons in the entrance hall of his 
apartment building as he was returning home from his office. 
Kivirian's wife and sister ran out of their apartment when they 
heard noise from the scuffle, and they heard three gun shots before 
the assailants ran away.  (Note: Apparently this was the regular 
time when Kivirian returned from work.  End note.)  According to the 
family members, Kivirian, who was covered in blood, had managed to 
explain that one of the attackers had tried to shoot him, but he had 
managed to divert the bullets by holding away the hand of the 
shooter.  Kivirian was rushed to a hospital with severe injuries and 
cuts on his head and body, and was placed in intensive care.  He 
remains in the hospital and his condition, initially evaluated as 
grave, is currently not life-threatening. 
 
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MOTIVES BEHIND THE ATTACK UNCLEAR 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Lusine Sahakyan told Emboff that in addition to gunshots, 
she heard the assailants shouting "we are going to kill you anyway" 
as they ran away.  She hypothesized that the attackers wanted to 
beat  her husband to death to deliver a point, and resorted to guns 
only when they heard people running to the scene.  She was reluctant 
to talk about what might have triggered the murder attempt, saying 
that it could be related to the professional activity of either one 
of them.  In a press conference held on May 5, human rights activist 
Avetik Ishkhanian said that he is sure that the attack aimed to kill 
Kivirian based on a "political order." 
 
¶4. (SBU) Kivirian maintains two news websites:  Armenia Today and 
Bagin.  The first one focuses on local news (with an independent 
editorial slant that is neither pro-government nor pro-opposition). 
The other covers news of Javakh, the Armenian-populated region of 
southern Georgia.  (Comment:  Media contacts told Emboffs that to 
their knowledge Kivirian had done nothing out of the ordinary in his 
news coverage on either site, and that both of these are rather 
low-profile news sources in Armenia.  End Comment) 
 
¶5. (SBU) Lusine Sahakian gained prominence through defending former 
Deputy Prosecutor General Gagik Jahangirian, who was arrested 
shortly after publicly voicing support for opposition leader Levon 
Ter-Petrosian in February 2008.  She is also involved in numerous 
other trials of opposition supporters.  Sahakian reported that 
police guarded the hospital for the first day; since then, she and 
other friends and family have maintained a vigil to ensure that 
Kivirian is never left alone. 
 
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POLICE ACTIONS RAISE SUSPICIONS 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Photos taken immediately after the attack by an 
opposition-leaning free lance journalist, Gagik Shamshian, show a 
bloody scene with one wooden baton left behind by the attackers and 
two bullet shells.  These bullet shells, however, were missing from 
photos taken less than an hour after, once the police had arrived 
and conducted their examination of the crime scene.  Police launched 
an investigation into the case under charges of "infliction of 
willful light damage to health," and say they have not found any 
evidence of shooting.  (Comment: The charge noted in the 
investigation seems to us mild given the severity of the attack. End 
comment 
 
¶7. (SBU) One of our Political FSNs lives in the building where the 
attack occurred.  While she personally did not hear anything, her 
family members did hear the noise of the attack, including the gun 
shots.  Our FSN reported that witnesses questioned by police said 
the investigators were skeptical of reports of gunshots, and tried 
to persuade witnesses that the sounds might have been some other 
sort of loud noise. 
 
 
YEREVAN 00000302  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
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IMPUNITY LEAVES JOURNALISTS UNPROTECTED 
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¶8. (SBU) Human rights and media organizations, opposition parties, 
some MPs, Human Rights Defender Armen Harutyunian, as well as the 
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos Haraszti 
condemned the attack and called on the Armenian authorities to 
conduct a swift investigation.  According to Haraszti and others, 
the lack of prosecutions in cases of violence against journalists 
creates an atmosphere of impunity for the perpetrators and can 
provoke other similar attacks. 
 
YOVANOVITCH