YEREVAN. – Armenian police claims that the arrest of Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Times) journalist Hayk Gevorgyan was legal.

According to the chief of Investigation Police Department Armen Ayvazyan, Gevorgyan has run over Ashot Frangulyan on Jan. 13 and escaped the scene. Frangulyan was injured and hospitalized. Police instigated criminal case on the latter’s appeal on Jan. 20. The same day police clarified who was the driver. As a result, Gevorgyan was invited for the interrogation. To note, he called and agreed on date and time with the investigator however, did not turn in the police. Hence, police decided to detain Gevorgyan on Jan. 23. Finally he was arrested and sent to Nubarashen penitentiary on Friday, police release reads.

Ayvazyan did not answer any question citing the confidentiality of the investigation, whereas journalists tried to find out why Gevorgyan was not found by the police for 10 days when he was covering governmental press-conferences and writing articles. Besides, the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief Nikol Pashinyan also has introduced his arguments on how Gevorgyan was arrested by the decree of the Chief of Armenian Police in Friday’s press conference.