The pro-government deputy mayor of the northern Armenian town of Spitak physically attacked an RFE/RL correspondent on Tuesday just before an election campaign rally held there by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
The official, Artak Matosian, was present at the rally along with local government employees despite not being legally allowed to attend election-related events during work hours. He reacted aggressively when the reporter, Karine Simonian, wondered why he is not at work.
“What do you want, man? … I am at work. The country’s prime minister is coming,” Matosian snapped as he prepared to greet Pashinian in Spitak’s central square.
“Stop filming me,” he added, punching Simonian’s camera.
Spitak Mayor Kajayr Nikoghosian, who was also at the scene, clearly approved of his deputy’s behavior despite the fact that obstruction of journalists’ work is a criminal offense under Armenian law.
“Have you again come to cause trouble?” Nikoghosian told Simonian, refusing to answer her questions.
Nikoghosian, who is affiliated with the ruling Civil Contract party, himself is no stranger to controversy. Last October, a resident of a nearby village claimed to have been beaten up by the mayor after complaining about a lack of water of supply to his home. Nikoghosian avoided prosecution for the alleged assault.
People attending Pashinian’s rally in Spitak included employees of the municipal administration as well as the local branch of the Haypost national postal service run by Nikoghosian’s son.
“I work as a laborer at the municipal administration,” Hrachya Marutian, a middle-aged holding a Pashinian campaign poster with another local government worker, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service before being led away by a young Pashinian loyalist.
“We are glorifying our Nikol,” Marutian’s wife and colleague said for her part.
Civil Contract was accused by opposition groups and media of abusing its administrative resources even before the official start of campaigning for the June 7 parliamentary elections. One of the opposition leaders, Arman Tatoyan, publicized late last week purported audios of a college lecturer affiliated with the ruling party ordering her students to attend a Pashinian rally in the town of Armavir.
No Civil Contract members or supporters have been prosecuted on election-related charges to date. Law-enforcement authorities have arrested instead dozens of opposition activists and supporters on charges of buying votes or paying people to attend opposition rallies. Virtually all of them are linked to billionaire Samvel Karapetian’s Strong Armenia alliance widely regarded as Pashinian’s number one election challenger.
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