Erebuni Gunman’s Mother Deprived of Disability Benefits

Authorities in Armenia have deprived the mother of “Daredevils of Sasun” member Arayik Khandoyan, Rima Khandoyan, of pension and benefits, Medialab.am reported Saturday.

The elderly woman lives with her son Ararat in a small house in the village of Tsaghkahovit; Mrs. Rima’s other sons have been granted apartments in a neighboring building but, according to Ararat’s wife Sona, “Arayik’s house is entirely flooded, the walls are crumbling.”

The gunman’s mother has been deprived of her disability benefit following the July 17 armed siege of the Erebuni police station by the “Daredevils of Sasun.” Rima Khandoyan has been told that, as per the order of Armenia’s National Security Service, she would no longer be receiving her monthly allowance of 17,000 drams (about $35.) 

Several days ago, Arayik Khandoyan sustained a leg injury during a shootout with law enforcement officers; the gunman has not been taken to a hospital since he's adamant about staying on the occupied territory. According to Mrs. Rima, her son, a Karabakh war veteran, had stopped using crutches only a few years ago, and now he got wounded in the same leg. “We saw Arayik in one of the videos [published in media] and he was shouting. We were so surprised; we had never seen him shout before,” the woman said.