Epress.am News from Armenia
On Friday, September 11 farmer Samvel Harutyunyan, resident of Gargar village of Armenia's Lori province, came to the Kentron and Nork Marash administrative districts' first instance court five minutes before the trial in his case against the Armenian Police and Prosecutor's office was scheduled to begin. These structures, the plaintiff claims, showed inactivity by dismissing his suit over 'fraudulent conduct' by Gazprom Armenia (formerly HayRusGazArd).
We, having just been informed that the hearing had been postponed, were waiting for Harutyunyan at the courthouse. The farmer, upon finding out about the postponement, started to complain. Every time, Harutyunyan said, he wasted time on the road [to come to Yerevan]; however, the future of the trial is still unclear.
During his lengthy fight against the Russian company, Armenian courts were favorable to the plaintiff only in the beginning. In 2011, the Court of General Jurisdiction Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun administrative districts handed down a verdict in favor of Harutyunyan finding his claim that Gazprom Armenia had illegally suspended the gas supply of his greenhouses legitimate. The company's conduct, according to the claim, resulted in the farmer's harvest freezing, costing him 4,400,000 AMD ($9,100+/-) worth of damages.
Despite the verdict, Gazprom Armenia did not restore the gas supply in Harutyunyan's greenhouses. Moreover, the company won on appeal. The farmer, however, claims the Court of Appeal overturned the verdict based on forged documents. Without his prior knowledge, he said, Gazprom Armenia made changes to their agreement, made a copy of the amended document and presented it to the court. The forgery, as stated by Harutyunyan, has also been proven by the Expertise Center of the RA Ministry of Justice.
“I have all the documents. Can you imagine what would happen to me if I were lying? I'd immediately appear behind bars. I also appealed to the Court of Cassation, presented the experts' conclusion, but to no avail. I got robbed in the worst way. My gas supply has been cut off for 7 years; my greenhouses are ruined. What do they want from me? I stayed in this country in its darkest years, and now some company wants to ruin me with the help of the state machine,” the farmer complained.
Currently, Harutyunyan is trying to prove that the Armenian police and Prosecutor's office have shown inactivity in dealing with the facts of fraud in his case. Court hearings are constantly postponed, but the farmer does not give up and is willing to wait until October 2, when the next hearing is scheduled to take place. There are, however, many reasons to despair: the appellate and cassation courts have already proven that the Russian company's standpoint is acceptable for them.
According to Harutyunyan, Armenian authorities are carrying out a white genocide against him: “I've been a farmer since 1975, when it was still forbidden in the Soviet [Union]. Who would have thought I'd face this situation in independent Armenia.”
Armen M., Epress.am