Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenian Environmental Front has issued a statement describing the “strategy by which certain groups regularly incite violent provocations at Amulsar blockades presenting themselves as subcontractors of Lydian whose ultimate goal is to engage Amulsar protectors in violent acts and therefore justify police intervention.”
Armenian Environmental Front has found out that the group that has been regularly carrying out such provocations in recent weeks is headed by individuals making up the political team of Aram Sargsyan, a former official under Robert Kocharyan, brother of late Vazgen Sargsyan․ Aram Sargsyan on his turn has been actively calling out the protesters and environmentalists fighting against the Amulsar Gold Project insisting that they are paid.
The environmentalists inform that “Eco Building” LLC, headed by Karlen (Karen) Minasyan, founded by his father Aram Minasyan, is a local company based in Vayk that regularly attempts to break into the territory of Amulsar blocked by local residents as their resistance against the project. Karlen Minasyan is part of Aram Sargsyan’s political alliance that was running in 2018 parliamentary elections. “Eco Building” regularly refers to its contract with Lydian by which they are obliged to carry out some work at the facilities on Amulsar.
Armenian Environmental Front also expresses assumptions that Aram Sargsyan, a business owner in lime mining, may also have a financial interest in the running of the Amulsar Project, as a potential lime supplier.
Aram Sargsyan refuses to clarify on who exactly pays whom, while Armenian Environmental Front calls these statements a libel.