Epress.am News from Armenia
Yesterday, Heritage Party MP Zaruhi Postanjyan raised the issue of the Syunik Marz (Province) court convening its sessions in the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert. She stated that it was illegal and a violation of the rights of Armenian citizens who are acting plaintiffs, representatives of plaintiffs, defendants, especially, during cases of dead soldiers. After presenting the report, the Armenian Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan was asked by Zaruhi Postanjyan, if he did not notice human rights violations in the latter practice.
“In all honesty, we don’t have any complaints in regards to this court issue. For me, I find the issue to be on a quite sensitive realm. I’m not ready to talk to you about the issue right now, I’ll be ready later to discuss the issue with you,” said Ombudsman Andreasyan. In response, Zaruhi Postanjyan said, the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) must have received complaints about the issue. According to the MP, the Stepanakert courts are investigating the cases of soldiers killed during peaceful time in NKR. Postanjyan, stressed, that such situations are clear violations of one’s rights and the Armenian constitution.
“If there needs to be a complaint I’ll present one,” said the MP.
During his response, Andreasyan twice claimed that the Ombudsman’s office has not even received one complaint during the last 3 and half years.
In reality, the Human Rights Defender has received a few complaints. On July 30, 2013, Epress.am had spoken to Hovsep Muradyan, the father of Arman Muradyan, who died at a Martakert military base in NKR. He claimed that in June of 2014, he applied to the Human Rights Defender’s office, in order to know why his son’s cases were convening in Stepanakert.
In 2010, Irina Ghazaryan, the mother of Artur Ghazaryan, who died in NKR, also told Epress.am that she applied to the Ombudsman office. In 2011, 22-year old Torgom Sarukhanyan died from wounds in a base near Khojalu, his mother, Lena Sarukhanyan, wrote a letter to the Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan on February 2012, asking why Armenian citizens serve in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“We accepted Mrs. Sarukhanyan’s first question and immediately forwarded the question to the Ministry of Defense, however the Ministry’s answer was not sufficient for us. Therefore, we sent a letter to the Prime Minister, in order to finally receive a satisfactory answer, in order to give Mrs. Sarukhanyan,” said Ombudsman representative Aram Vardanyan to Epress.am in 2012, while refusing to say what was in the Ministry of Defense’s answer.
Photograph courtnkr.am