Representatives of “Adekvad” program series: All attempts to silence us are doomed to failure, and we will continue to present the objective reality

On October 11, an unpleasant incident was recorded in the city of Maralik of Shirak Province and took place between Narek Malyan and Artur Danielyan, creators of the “Adekvad” program series on Facebook, as well as the program’s cameraman Grigor Minasyan and nearly 2 dozens of residents of Maralik.

Let us mention that the “Adekvad” program series was created in mid-July, sharply criticizing the new government and its domestic and foreign policies.

Within the scope of their regional visits, the representatives of “Adekvad” traveled to Maralik to provide coverage of the events that have been taking place there for the past couple of weeks, that is, the protests against the incumbent mayor of Maralik, who is also a member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).

Let us remind that some of the residents of Maralik are demanding the resignation of the mayor (RPA member) of Maralik, while the rest are against it. Those supporting the mayor’s resignation have taken over the session of the municipality, and the council of elders of the community is compelled to hold its sessions in different buildings located in various sectors of the city.

It was during the coverage of this mixed up situation when a sharp clash took place between the creators of the “Adekvad” program series and the nearly 20 residents of the city presenting themselves as revolutionaries; the clash did not end with bloodshed due to the self-control of the representatives of “Adekvad” and police intervention.

The organizers of the assault, that is, Agun Saghatelyan, nephew of former head of the Penitentiary Department Mushegh Saghatelyan, and ex-convict Harutyun Urutyan, who was not only attacking, but also using obscene swear words, explained their “uprising” and wrath with the fact that the creators of the program series had offended them during one of their broadcasts.

It turns out that Agun Saghatelyan and Harutyun Urutyan and their supporters had been offended by the creators of the “Adekvad” program series, who had stated that Maralik is a small city during a broadcast devoted to the events taking place in Maralik.

The specified persons also accused Narek Malyan and Artur Danielyan of supporting the incumbent mayor, but Malyan and Danielyan sharply deny this.

The scenes shown during the live broadcast and the words expressed by the creators of the program series show that those provoking the incident had dragged cameraman Grigor Minasyan, hit him and tried to steal his camera.

Not being able to restrain the assaulters and for the crew’s security reasons, the police officers, who were eyewitnesses to the incident, take Narek Malyan and Artur Danielyan from the scene of the incident to the police station in Maralik and later escort them to Yerevan.

The incident immediately sparked great public reaction. Several citizens and political figures touched upon and condemned the incident, particularly stressing the fact that intolerance against dissent is a defective working style and must be extirpated by Armenian society.

In particular, former National Security Director of the Republic of Armenia Davit Shahnazaryan stated the following in his statement: “I express deep indignation with and strictly condemn the assaults that were made against public and political figures Artur Danielyan, Narek Malyan and Grigor Minasyan in Maralik on October 11. I demand that the authorities take immediate measures to strictly punish those who are guilty.”

Leader of Freedom Party and former Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Hrant Bagratyan also issued a condemning statement. “On behalf of Freedom Party, I express deep indignation with the incident that took place in Maralik. Nobody has the right to make assaults against political figures conducting peaceful observations. I demand that the police immediately punish those who caused the protraction with Artur Danielyan, Narek Malyan and Grigor Minasyan. I don’t think that Nikol Pashinyan organized all this, but he is the one who is transforming the democratic uprising of the people into bigotry. This leads to the following question: What is the difference between the hooligans of Maralik and the “reputable” figures of districts when Serzh Sargsyan was in power?”

This was followed by the response of the Police, which stated the following: “On October 11, the police station in Ani received information that on the same day, at around 16:50, hosts of the “Adekvad” program series, their cameraman and a group of people got into a dispute on the sidewalk on Shahinyan Street in the city of Maralik. On the same day, at 17:00, the hosts and cameraman of “Adekvad” program series were called to the police station and reported that while they were shooting scenes for the “Adekvad” analytical program series on Facebook at Victory Park in the city of Maralik, a group of people approached them and demanded that they leave the city of Maralik quickly and that 800 people were waiting to settle a score with them at the central square. Escorting them to the square, these group of people dragged them to the sidewalk on the road in front of house #3 on Hrant Shahinyan Street and used swear words, posing a threat to their life and health, and one of the men dragged the cameraman to Victory Park. Ten minutes later, the man tried to steal the cameraman’s camera on the sidewalk on the road leading to the central square and broke the tripod, causing material damage. After explanations, 5 citizens participating in the incident showed up at the police station and gave explanations to the police officers. Expert examinations have been designated. Materials are being prepared.”

They [the creators of the program series] say Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan is directly responsible for what happened since, according to them, this attempt to repress dissent and freedom of speech is the result of the tolerance and direct sponsorship of the authorities. They also state that the only reason for failure of the provocation initially planned and perpetrated by the authorities is that they did not lose self-control and informed people about the incident through a live broadcast.

The creators of the “Adekvad” program series positively assess the actions of the local police officers and voice hope that, nevertheless, the investigation will be objective and the organizers of the assault will be revealed.

They add that all attempts to silence are doomed to failure and that they will continue to present the objective reality.

Armine Vardanyan