Armenian editor arrested on 'trumped up charges'

The editor of an Armenian newspaper, Zhamanak Yerevan (Yerevan Times), has been in jail for two weeks facing a charge of forging documents in order to avoid military service. But the press freedom body, the Committee to Protect Journalists believes the charges against Arman Babadzhanian have been trumped up because of his newspaper's critical reporting of government conduct. Significantly, Babadzhanian was arrested just days after the paper published an article which questioned the independence of the prosecutor general's office. The authorities have failed to explain why Babadzhanian has suddenly been charged with offences that allegedly happened in 2002. (Via cpj.org)