Epress.am News from Armenia
The European Court of Human Rights has accepted a suit against the Gazprom Armenia corporation by Armavir province resident, agriculturist Samvel Harutyunyan. Simultaneously, Harutyunyan also applied to the Armenian courts; he claims in his suit that the company used an official fabrication, which resulted in the Court of Appeals handing a verdict in their favor.
The Court of General Jurisdiction of First Instance of Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun Administrative Districts handed down a verdict in favor of Harutyunyan, considering his claim to be legal in which Gazprom Armenia had illegally suspended his gas supply, which resulted in his harvest to freeze in the greenhouse, costing him 4,400,000 AMD ($9,000+/-) worth of damages.
“I won the case in the Court of First Instance. Gazprom Armenia appealed to the Court of Appeals, presenting a fabricated contract between us based on a false copy. The Court of Appeals considered their complaint sufficient. I presented to the Court of Cassation the conclusion of the Expert Center of Ministry of Justice, which proves that the document was fabricated. The Court of Cassation didn’t even accept my suit, while the ECtHR has,” said Samvel Harutyunyan when speaking to Epress.am.
The farmer also applied to the police, in order to initiate a criminal case against Gazprom Armenia for fabricating a document. “Instead of receiving a response in 10 days, it was delayed for 11 months, later the prosecutor suspended the case. The prosecutor didn’t even provide the reasons behind the decision. I applied to the Court of First Instance. 5 hearings have already been held, at least I get the reasoning behind the prosecutor’s decision through the court, so I can continue my case,” said Samvel Harutyunyan.