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JOURNALISTS ARE OPPRESSED

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The number cases of assassination or imprisonment of journalists while carrying out their professional duty has grown in 2006.

According to the annual report «Attacks on Press» of the Journalist Protection Committee which operates in New York, 55 journalists have been killed in 2006 while carrying out their professional duties. 27 of the 55 cases are still being investigated. 134 more journalists have been imprisoned.

In Iraq 32 journalists have been killed in the previous year. 30 of them were locals.

In 2005 only 17 journalists had been killed, whereas 125 had been imprisoned. ARMENIA

• On May 25, authorities denied independent television station A1+ a broadcasting license for the 12th time. According to press reports, the National Commission on Television and Radio justified the rejection by saying that competitors submitted stronger bids. A1+ said the refusal was politically motivated and appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. The court could urge Armenia to reconsider.

• Arman Babadzhanian, editor-in-chief of the opposition daily Zhamanak Yerevan, was arrested on June 26, days after publishing an article that questioned the independence of the Yerevan prosecutor’s office, according to CPJ sources. Babadzhanian was charged with forging documents to escape military service; the journalist did not dispute the allegation but said the charge was pressed in retaliation for his work. On September 8, a district court in Yerevan sentenced Babadzhanian to four years in prison, according to the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The defense filed an appeal in September.