Epress.am News from Armenia
An Armenian family, who were caught in a gas explosion in their home in Aintab town of Ararat province and now seek monetary compensation from Gazprom-Armenia for their losses, staged yet another sit-in protest Friday in front of the office of Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan in hopes that the president would finally give solution to their problem.
Artak Petrosyan, the family member who suffered the most serious burns in the blast, told Epress.am that their case against Gazprom-Armenia has not gone further than first instance court since representatives of the company “keep coming up with endless excuses to not show up to hearings.”
“We, an 8-member family, have been renting a tiny apartment for over three years since Gazprom-Armenia refuses to compensate us for the explosion. I've become disabled because of them and have already spent several millions on medical treatment alone. Gazprom-Armenia gave us 3 million drams once (about $ 4 000) 'on humanitarian grounds,' but that's not a solution: we've lost our home, our health. We demand that they fully compensate us for material and moral damages,” Petrosyan said.
The company, he added, had promised to pay compensation for damages if proven guilty, and various examinations have shown that the exploded pipeline had been built in the area illegally: “But Gazprom-Armenia now lays the blame on the construction company, claiming that they did not do their job properly.”
Video in Armenian: