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Yerevan Today news media’s editor-in-chief claims detectives confiscated his office computer

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Yerevan Today Editor-In-Chief Sevak Hakobyan has commented on the search operations which were carried out in the head office of the news media outlet by police and investigative committee detectives.

He told reporters that what happened was odd.

According to him, the reason behind it all is that Yerevan Today was first to report the audio recording of the wiretapped phone conversation between the NSS director and the SIS director, which was leaked online. The Editor-In-Chief said he will soon summon a press conference. “At this moment I can only say that they have confiscated my computer and the hard drives of the other computers. Moreover, this happened as result of double inspections. They noted that the information, for which they had arrived, was published on our website a lot later than it was distributed, but after this they confiscated whatever they wanted and left,” Hakobyan told reporters.

Asked to clarify whether Yerevan Today is somehow affiliated with former President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, the Editor-In-Chief dismissed the rumors, claiming that Kocharyan isn’t the owner and has nothing to do with it.

 

Turkey accuses daily Zaman newspaper chief of terror activity

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390804_turkey-mediaProsecutors in Turkey have accused the editor-in-chief of a popular daily of establishing an armed terror network.

Ekrem Dumanli, who serves as editor-in-chief of the Zaman newspaper, faces charges of membership in a terrorist group. He, along with 15 other journalists and media activists, is also accused of depriving people of liberty by using force and making threats and slander. Report Presstv

Dumanli denied all charges against him during his testimony to prosecutors. He has been also accused of having links to Fethullah Gulen, a religious scholar who resides in the United States and current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan views him as his main enemy.

Turkish police arrested 28 people over the weekend as part of the broader campaign against the followers of Gullen. The move was heavily criticized with many calling it the most unprecedented attack on the freedom of speech in the country.

European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, and a number of other European leaders have lamented Turkey’s raid on journalists and media people and said the arrests went against European values. Erdogan hit back at the criticism hours later by asking the EU to “mind its own business.”

For years, Turkey has made its utmost to join the European Union. The bid, however, has been stalled due to various reasons including the EU’s ongoing criticism of Turkey’s record in human rights and restriction of freedom of speech.