Epress.am News from Armenia
Meeting on Wednesday with three of the protesting homeowners who agreed to move into new apartments that were then resold to third parties was Permanent Representative of the President to the National Assembly Garnik Isaghulyan, who promised to deal with their case, one of the homeowners, Sona Maghakyan, informed Epress.am
Recall, Heritage Party MP Anahit Bakhshyan, as promised earlier, raised the matter in parliament, after which Isaghulyan, instructed by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, began dealing with the issue. Until then, the finance ministry’s chief advisor, Hayk Davtyan, was dealing with the case.
The homeowners were again protesting outside the government building today. After the regular Thursday government meeting, Bakhshyan approached the protestors and said she raised the issue again in parliament yesterday and appealed to justice minister Hrayr Tovmasyan in writing, so that he meet with the protestors and listen to their concerns.
Though the minister hasn’t yet respond to the letter, Bakhshyan said that, according to the law, on the basis of a deputy’s intervention, he has to organize a meeting soon.
Recall, in 2006, the residents (whose apartments on Aram, Buzand, Yekmalyan and Saryan streets were recognized as public priority interest) agreed to leave their homes on the condition that they would be given apartments in new buildings to be constructed on the same site. For this they signed an agreement with a developer by the name of Gagik Papoyan, but the residents still haven’t received their new apartments — in fact, the units have been resold to third parties.
Late last year, Armenia’s Special Investigation Service (SIS) launched a criminal case against Papoyan, but he cannot be found. The homeowners say the SIS informed them that that the case could take months as hundreds of people have to be questioned in connection with the case.