The Armenian Report Journalist Detained by Police En Route to Voskepar Village

The Armenian Report’s journalist, Ani Khachatryan, was detained today by Armenian police forces while en route to Voskepar village in the Tavush Province of Armenia.

Khachatryan was traveling as part of a media contingent with (Martakan Yeghbayrutyun) Combat Brotherhood to Voskepar when their vehicle was stopped by police at 9:10 a.m. local time. Also traveling in the vehicle were two other members of the media from Doxa, a European media outlet, and two members of the Combat Brotherhood. The group's intention was to visit Voskepar village to meet with residents and gather information on the situation on the ground.

Upon being stopped by the police, the driver inquired about the reason for the halt, to which they were informed that their vehicle was under surveillance and subject to search by the police. Subsequently, all occupants of the vehicle, including Khachatryan and the other reporters, were taken to the police station for questioning. Despite their explanation of their status as media personnel, they were detained for a period of six hours. Throughout their detention, they were repeatedly interrogated about their motives for traveling to Tavush. Despite reiterating their intent to interview Voskepar villagers, the police remained skeptical.

In an exchange with police officers, Khachatryan expressed her desire to bring global attention to the situation in Tavush, emphasizing the resilience of the Armenian people in defending their land. However, her plea was met with skepticism, with a police officer remarking, "You did it for Artsakh too with no results, look what happened at the end." Khachatryan didn’t stop there; she asked the police officers again, “Do you like that we keep giving up pieces of our homeland to our enemy and not getting anything in return?” To which the police officer responded to The Armenian Report’s correspondent, agreeing with her statement. Khachatryan followed it up with questioning then why they are being detained at the moment, and the police officers explained that they are just doing their job.

The police detained all occupants of the vehicle under suspicion of carrying weapons to Tavush. However, upon finding no evidence to support this claim, they were released after six hours.

Khachatryan says it’s awful that they are not allowing journalists to go document what’s happening in Voskepar. She insists that she must go to Voskepar and capture the struggle of the Armenian residents of those villages. She wants to show that the people there are continuing with their daily lives and refuse to leave their homes like they did with the Armenians from Kornidzor village of Artsakh.