Cases of violence against journalists decreased in Armenia.

Cases of violence against journalists have decreased in Armenia in the past two years as compared with 2008 and 2009, Vice-President of the Investigative Journalists NGO Liana Sayadyan said during the presentation of a book entitled "Violence, intimidation and legal cases against journalists and the media in Armenia; 2010-2011"
The book published with the assistance of the OSCE office in Yerevan consists of two sections, which present acts of violence and intimidation against journalists and persecution against media representatives.

According to the report, cases of violence decreased in 2010 and 2011 correspondingly to nine and four against the 18 and 11 cases in 2008 and 2009.

"The study revealed that the legislative amendments made by the National Assembly in 2010, namely the decriminalization of libel and slander, had their negative impact on the media during the reporting period," said Liana Sayadyan, the editor of the book.

She says about 30 lawsuits have been filed against media by public and state officials, MPs and businesspeople.