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GYUMRI FAMILY REUNITED: BOYS ESCAPE CLUTCHES OF ARMENIAN BUSINESSMAN IN RUSSIA
Yeranuhi Soghoyan
http://hetq.am/eng/articles/22186/gyumri-family-reunited-boys-escape-clutches-of-armenian-businessman-in-russia.html
12:06, January 11, 2013
Hetq readers may remember the harrowing tale of Gohar, a Gyumri mother
of five, and two of her boys who were essentially working as slave
labourers in the Russian town of Lipovtsi, near Vladivostok.
The boys, Misak (26) and Samvel (16), were working in a bread factory
owned by Aragatz Harutyunyan in Lipovtsi since 2010.
Last month, Gohar Khachatryan called Hetq with some happy news;
her boys were back in Armenia.
"They escaped and made their way home," said a jubilant Gohar. "They
arrived in October. But my son Misak didn't want me to tell you right
away. He feared that relatives of the people who took us to Russia
might seek revenge on us here in Armenia."
Hetq first wrote about the plight of Gohar and her sons in a January
2012 article entitled "Gohar Fears for Her Two Sons Kept as Indentured
Servants in Russia's Far East"
The RA Prosecutor General and the "Hope and Assistance" NGO followed
up after Hetq broke the story.
The matter was forwarded to the Russian Migration Agency and
investigators paid a visit to Aragatz Harutyunyan in Lipovtsi. All they
did was force the businessman to return the boy's passports. They
didn't file criminal charges against Harutyunyan nor did they
register the boys as illegal migrants, which would have allowed their
deportation back to Armenia.
Instead, the Russian authorities wanted Misak and Samvel to pay
penalties for working illegally. The boys didn't have any money to pay
since they were receiving a pittance for working at the bread factory.
Harutyunyan refused to pay anything to the authorities.
Gohar telephoned Hetq in June of last year to say that the boys had
escaped the clutches of Harutyunyan but that she didn't know their
whereabouts. Six months later, in December, she called again to say
that Misak and Samvel had made it back to Gyumri.
They told their mother that a Russian woman named Irina had facilitated
their escape from the factory. The boys made their way to the village
of Preobrazhin, some 600 kilometers from Lipovtsi, where Irina's
relatives lived. The boys told their story to some Armenians living
in the village. A local Armenian gave them jobs.
"Misak was cooking khorovatz and I did simple house repairs,"
recounts Samvel.
Gohar says the two boys had saved up 15,000 Russian rubles before
their return to Armenia.
The boys then traveled to Moscow for a flight to Yerevan. Karineh,
their sister, says that Russian airport police detained Misak because
his passport visa had expired. She says they ripped up his passport
and threw him out of the airport.
Misak then went to the Armenian embassy in Moscow for assistance.
Staffers got him a ticket and travel documents under a program called
"Return to the Homeland".
The family, again reunited, spent a very happy New Years in the rented
tomik (metal trailer) they call home.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Yeranuhi Soghoyan
http://hetq.am/eng/articles/22186/gyumri-family-reunited-boys-escape-clutches-of-armenian-businessman-in-russia.html
12:06, January 11, 2013
Hetq readers may remember the harrowing tale of Gohar, a Gyumri mother
of five, and two of her boys who were essentially working as slave
labourers in the Russian town of Lipovtsi, near Vladivostok.
The boys, Misak (26) and Samvel (16), were working in a bread factory
owned by Aragatz Harutyunyan in Lipovtsi since 2010.
Last month, Gohar Khachatryan called Hetq with some happy news;
her boys were back in Armenia.
"They escaped and made their way home," said a jubilant Gohar. "They
arrived in October. But my son Misak didn't want me to tell you right
away. He feared that relatives of the people who took us to Russia
might seek revenge on us here in Armenia."
Hetq first wrote about the plight of Gohar and her sons in a January
2012 article entitled "Gohar Fears for Her Two Sons Kept as Indentured
Servants in Russia's Far East"
The RA Prosecutor General and the "Hope and Assistance" NGO followed
up after Hetq broke the story.
The matter was forwarded to the Russian Migration Agency and
investigators paid a visit to Aragatz Harutyunyan in Lipovtsi. All they
did was force the businessman to return the boy's passports. They
didn't file criminal charges against Harutyunyan nor did they
register the boys as illegal migrants, which would have allowed their
deportation back to Armenia.
Instead, the Russian authorities wanted Misak and Samvel to pay
penalties for working illegally. The boys didn't have any money to pay
since they were receiving a pittance for working at the bread factory.
Harutyunyan refused to pay anything to the authorities.
Gohar telephoned Hetq in June of last year to say that the boys had
escaped the clutches of Harutyunyan but that she didn't know their
whereabouts. Six months later, in December, she called again to say
that Misak and Samvel had made it back to Gyumri.
They told their mother that a Russian woman named Irina had facilitated
their escape from the factory. The boys made their way to the village
of Preobrazhin, some 600 kilometers from Lipovtsi, where Irina's
relatives lived. The boys told their story to some Armenians living
in the village. A local Armenian gave them jobs.
"Misak was cooking khorovatz and I did simple house repairs,"
recounts Samvel.
Gohar says the two boys had saved up 15,000 Russian rubles before
their return to Armenia.
The boys then traveled to Moscow for a flight to Yerevan. Karineh,
their sister, says that Russian airport police detained Misak because
his passport visa had expired. She says they ripped up his passport
and threw him out of the airport.
Misak then went to the Armenian embassy in Moscow for assistance.
Staffers got him a ticket and travel documents under a program called
"Return to the Homeland".
The family, again reunited, spent a very happy New Years in the rented
tomik (metal trailer) they call home.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress