Sargis Hovannisian of the State Protection Service (SPS) was approached by a cameraman and a reporter for the news website Mediahub.am on Monday as he apparently issued orders to security forces confronting opposition protesters at a major street intersection.
Videos circulated online showed Hovannisian shouting at the female reporter, Nare Gnuni, before hitting her microphone. Gnuni said he also kicked the cameraman, Arman Gharajian.
“He said quite angrily, ‘Turn away the camera, don’t film me.’ At that point the cameraman simply replied, ‘I will film,’” Gnuni told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The Mediahub.am crew was also threatened and shoved by another SPS officer who accompanied Hovannisian at the scene.
The incident was witnessed by an official from human rights ombudswoman Kristine Grigorian’s staff. Grigorian called the SPS chief’s actions unacceptable.
Eight media associations strongly condemned them in a joint statement release late on Monday. They said that Hovannisian, whose agency is primarily in charge of Pashinian’s personal security, must be investigated and held accountable.
Hovannisian was already caught on camera kicking an opposition protester in Yerevan last year.
Responding to the latest outcry, the Office of the Prosecutor-General instructed another law-enforcement body to look into a video of the incident and determine whether the high-ranking officer broke the law.
The prosecutors also ordered a separate inquiry into a police officer who repeatedly punched a protester as the latter was arrested in the city center on Monday.
Ombudswoman Grigorian criticized the policeman as well. She said the police also used disproportionate force against other participants of anti-government protests detained in recent days.