Epress.am News from Armenia
82-year-old Yerevan resident Mikayel Poghosyan, a former military pilot, received in April a letter from Armenia's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, notifying that he was required to return a portion of his pension, nearly 1,5 million drams (about US$ 3 125) to the state. Otherwise, officials said, they would recover the money through the courts.
“It is no exaggeration to say that my father was one of the best military pilots in Armenia. As a good specialist, he stood out in the Soviet times, and even participated in the Karabakh war,”Karen Poghosyan, the son of the former pilot, told Epress.am.
After many years of service, Mikayel Poghosyan was forced to retire on grounds of ill health: “At first, he was receiving a standard retirement pension, but in 2007 the Government passed a law to appoint a special pension to former pilots, based on their time spent in the air,” Poghosyan said.
The retired military pilot was then appointed a monthly pension of 180 thousand drams (about $ 375). However, in 2011, he received a letter, according to which, over the years, the pensioner, for some unknown reason, had been receiving more money than he was eligible to, and his pension was reduced to 120 thousand drams. Subsequently, according to the interviewee, officials even demanded that Poghosyan return the “extra” money to the state.
“They started to terrorize my father on the phone, saying that he should return [a portion of] the pension back. My father replied that he had no way to return the money, and that it was not his fault he had mistakenly been given that much money. After a long dispute, they offered to collect 5 to 10 thousand drams monthly from his pension, and my father told them to do what they wanted.”
Without providing any legal basis, the speaker added, authorities began to collect 2000 drams from the retiree's pension every month. However, for some reason, they stopped charging him a year later, and in April, 2016, Poghosyan received an AMD 1,5 million debt notification and was told to pay the money voluntarily if he wanted to avoid court proceedings.