Epress.am News from Armenia
The Administrative court of Yerevan dismissed on Tuesday, August 25 the suit filed by the residents of the town of Shnogh in the Lori province of Armenia, as well as several environmental organizations demanding that the court oblige the Ministry of Nature Protection of Armenia to audit the mining project near the village of Teghut in order to find out whether “Teghut” CJSC, a Vallex Group company, has made violations during the exploitation of the Teghut copper-molybdenum mine.
The ruling, as Judge Samvel Hovakimyan stated, was based on the fact that “the demand had already been fulfilled.” Khachatur Khachaturyan, representative of the Ministry of Nature Protection, said in court that the Ministry has previously started inspections in the mine; however, the audit was subsequently suspended by the Armenian government's decision.
Hayk Alumyan, the plaintiffs' attorney, filed a motion for more detailed information about the audit – when it was launched and when suspended. The Ministry official, however, refused to provide such information, claiming that the suspension was based on the government's decision to terminate all such inspections.
“[Our suit] did not simply ask that the mine be audited; we demanded that the results of these inspections be published, which has not been done. Even if inspections were launched, they were later terminated. To claim that our demand has been fulfilled and to dismiss the case is absurd. We are going to appeal the verdict,” one of the plaintiffs, lawyer Arthur Grigoryan said in an interview with Epress.am.