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YEREVAN'S MOST EXPENSIVE PIT
Roza Hovhannisyan, Reporter
Society - Thursday, 13 February 2014, 16:51
The residents of Pavstos Buzand Street at the city center have been
homeless for already 10 years. Although the government committed,
it failed to resolve the housing issue of the former residents of
this acquired area.
In 2004 the residents of Buzand Street were evicted from their
homes as the government used it eminent domain for public needs. The
government offered next to nothing in compensation and most residents
refused the state compensation, relying on the Armenian courts, sued
the state but lost. The residents eventually had to sign three-party
agreements with the builder and the City Hall of Yerevan.
"Buzand Street was the most expensive cost to the state budget, the
European Court passes rulings against Armenia one after the other,
and the government allocates money from the state budget. There were 8
rulings against Armenia only on the cases of Buzand Street residents,"
Sedrak Baghdasaryan, chairman of Victims of Eminent Domain NGO,
one of the residents of the acquired area, told Lragir.am.
In the beginning the government divided Buzand Street to sections and
decided that five construction companies would start construction after
eviction of residents. The residents joke that the foundation pit dug
at 13-21 Pavstos Buzand Street ten years ago is the most expensive pit
in Yerevan. The government seized the houses of 37 families at 13-21
Pavstos Buzand Street, Vizcon Company signed contracts with some of
them and committed to build apartments for them. It eventually dug
that pit in the place of the houses of residents.
"Vizcon Company won the construction tender through bribing. Its head
Pavel Anderson has officially announced that he had given a bribe of
550,000 dollars to the ex-mayor of Yerevan Yervand Zakharyan.
Unfortunately, the Office of the Prosecutor General hasn't done
anything. Pavel Anderson became the owner of this area through bribe,
committing to provide them with apartments on Aram Street. With
his fraudulent friends Simon Aghazaryan and Gagik Papoyan Pavel
Anderson set up Gapbnakshin Company which was to give apartments to
the residents within three years, in 2007. In 2008, however, fraud
was disclosed, and each of those apartments turned to have been sold
to 3-5 buyers," Sedrak Baghdasaryan said.
At 72-80 Aram Street the abovementioned construction company caused
the arrangement to fail. One apartment was sold to multiple buyers.
Last year the government adopted a decree establishing the failure
of development at 13-21 Buzand Street. Earlier the government had
admitted that construction at 72-80 Aram Street also failed. "The
government took those areas for public needs. Who should follow the
process? Why did those programs fail? Maybe failure had been intended?
And today the fact is that the owners are in the street," Sedrak
Baghdasaryan said.
Over 5000 families have been evicted from their homes at the City
Center, North Avenue and General Avenue, by eminent domain. "About
4000 families were evicted from their apartments on North Avenue,
only two of them applied to the ECtHR. The residents of Buzand Street
protested, built barricades, underwent violence, applied to court,
hoping for fair trial in the Republic of Armenia. Losing their cases
in three instances, about twenty families applied to the ECtHR,"
Sedrak Baghdasaryan says.
Several applications are pending at the ECtHR, 16 rulings were
made against Armenia, and the government has allocated over half
a million dollars to compensate to the victims. The government has
passed 8 rulings against Armenia on the cases of the residents of
Buzand Street, over one dozen of cases are pending.
The ECtHR passed the first ruling against Armenia in 2007, on the
case Gevorg Chghryan v. Armenia. After eviction the government paid
to the ex-resident of Buzand Street a compensation of 47,000 euro
after his family was evicted, and after the ruling of the ECtHR the
government had to pay to the citizen a compensation of 150,000 dollars.
Having lost cases at the ECtHR, the government proposed a settlement
to Sedrak Baghdasaryan and his two neighbors but presented to the
European Court apartments that had been sold earlier.
"The Ministry of Justice presents to the European Court apartments
that had to be provided to me and my neighbors as a compensation. But
those apartments had been sold a long time ago, how would the
Europeans know? They had apparently assumed that the Republic of
Armenia is a serious state, not frauds, thieves and bandits, and
once they provided the apartments, the issue was closed, and our
cases were dismissed. Later this was disclosed, and we applied to
the European Court, we are waiting for the ruling at this stage,"
Sedrak Baghdasaryan said.
Next, the ministry of justice demanded a bribe from Sedrak Baghdasaryan
and his neighbors to administer the note of the European Court. "In
2011 the European Court wrote to us to approach the representative of
our ministry of justice Gevorg Kostanyan. Then Gevorg Kostanyan was
already the military prosecutor. We wrote a letter to Gevorg Kostanyan,
the ministry of justice called us for a meeting, we were received by
the deputy minister of justice Edward Melikyan who is now the head of
the Academy of Judges. He said you have received money for the house,
he says you must give that money, and afterwards we will give that
apartment to you. I said show me a single line in the decision of the
European Court which states that me or my neighbor have to return any
money to you. He tells me you are right, there is no such statement,
but we assumed that you should give us the money. They wanted 23,000
dollars. I asked whether I should give it to them, whether in an
envelope, or to Hrair Tovmasyan, or whether I should transfer it to
the account of the Republican Party," he says.
Ararat Mnatsakanyan and Lev Mnatsakanyan, victims of acquisition at
Pavstos Buzand 13-21, were promised apartments within 2.5 years from
2004 but are still fighting for their right.
"We signed a contract on receiving an apartment in the building built
at 72-80 Aram Street, 2.5 years passed, the building was not built,
we were left outside. The building was not finished until 2007, then
2008, then in 2009, then in 2010-2011, and we were left without any
support, we wrote a lot of letters to different organizations but
did not receive any answer," Ararat Mkrtichyan told Lragir.am who
has been homeless together with his wife and two children for ten
years. He says they do not have passports because they do not have
a place of registration.
"We signed contracts with the power of attorney of the ex-mayor Yervand
Zakharyan stating that we were to have an apartment on Aram Street
within 25 months but 25 became 125. Fraud of 50 million drams was
disclosed, 150 apartments were built which were sold to 520 citizens,"
Lev Mnatsakanyan told us.
He has applied to Armenian courts claiming penalty for delay by
the builder but his claims were dismissed despite the contract
stipulation. The resident claims a compensation of 20 million drams
from the builder. He has also applied to the European Court.
In 2006 the residents approached the ex-prime minister recommending
him to control the program to prevent fraud. The City Hall responded
to this with an assurance that all the contracts are being controlled
by them.
"Had they been controlled, one apartment would not be sold to 4-5
people. We approached the prosecutor general and Serzh Sargsyan,
they did not prevent it," Lev Mnatsakanyan says.
The residents remind that the head of the President's Control Service
Hovhannes Hovsepyan who was supposed to prevent fraud has bought
about 25 apartments and office space at 72-80 Aram Street under the
name of his relatives.
At the end of 2013 the government adopted a "rehabilitation" plan
for the residents of this area. The residents are waiting for them
to fulfill their pledges. And the most expensive pit of Yerevan has
been entrusted to D&H Group which has launched intensive construction.
Homeless residents tell us that they do not have expectations from
the government. "The government does not offer us anything now,
the government may only say that it has some eminent needs, the
president has eminent needs, we need money, give it to us," Sedrak
Baghdasaryan says.
- See more at:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/society/view/31914#sthash.FuJBEDJ7.dpuf
From: A. Papazian
Roza Hovhannisyan, Reporter
Society - Thursday, 13 February 2014, 16:51
The residents of Pavstos Buzand Street at the city center have been
homeless for already 10 years. Although the government committed,
it failed to resolve the housing issue of the former residents of
this acquired area.
In 2004 the residents of Buzand Street were evicted from their
homes as the government used it eminent domain for public needs. The
government offered next to nothing in compensation and most residents
refused the state compensation, relying on the Armenian courts, sued
the state but lost. The residents eventually had to sign three-party
agreements with the builder and the City Hall of Yerevan.
"Buzand Street was the most expensive cost to the state budget, the
European Court passes rulings against Armenia one after the other,
and the government allocates money from the state budget. There were 8
rulings against Armenia only on the cases of Buzand Street residents,"
Sedrak Baghdasaryan, chairman of Victims of Eminent Domain NGO,
one of the residents of the acquired area, told Lragir.am.
In the beginning the government divided Buzand Street to sections and
decided that five construction companies would start construction after
eviction of residents. The residents joke that the foundation pit dug
at 13-21 Pavstos Buzand Street ten years ago is the most expensive pit
in Yerevan. The government seized the houses of 37 families at 13-21
Pavstos Buzand Street, Vizcon Company signed contracts with some of
them and committed to build apartments for them. It eventually dug
that pit in the place of the houses of residents.
"Vizcon Company won the construction tender through bribing. Its head
Pavel Anderson has officially announced that he had given a bribe of
550,000 dollars to the ex-mayor of Yerevan Yervand Zakharyan.
Unfortunately, the Office of the Prosecutor General hasn't done
anything. Pavel Anderson became the owner of this area through bribe,
committing to provide them with apartments on Aram Street. With
his fraudulent friends Simon Aghazaryan and Gagik Papoyan Pavel
Anderson set up Gapbnakshin Company which was to give apartments to
the residents within three years, in 2007. In 2008, however, fraud
was disclosed, and each of those apartments turned to have been sold
to 3-5 buyers," Sedrak Baghdasaryan said.
At 72-80 Aram Street the abovementioned construction company caused
the arrangement to fail. One apartment was sold to multiple buyers.
Last year the government adopted a decree establishing the failure
of development at 13-21 Buzand Street. Earlier the government had
admitted that construction at 72-80 Aram Street also failed. "The
government took those areas for public needs. Who should follow the
process? Why did those programs fail? Maybe failure had been intended?
And today the fact is that the owners are in the street," Sedrak
Baghdasaryan said.
Over 5000 families have been evicted from their homes at the City
Center, North Avenue and General Avenue, by eminent domain. "About
4000 families were evicted from their apartments on North Avenue,
only two of them applied to the ECtHR. The residents of Buzand Street
protested, built barricades, underwent violence, applied to court,
hoping for fair trial in the Republic of Armenia. Losing their cases
in three instances, about twenty families applied to the ECtHR,"
Sedrak Baghdasaryan says.
Several applications are pending at the ECtHR, 16 rulings were
made against Armenia, and the government has allocated over half
a million dollars to compensate to the victims. The government has
passed 8 rulings against Armenia on the cases of the residents of
Buzand Street, over one dozen of cases are pending.
The ECtHR passed the first ruling against Armenia in 2007, on the
case Gevorg Chghryan v. Armenia. After eviction the government paid
to the ex-resident of Buzand Street a compensation of 47,000 euro
after his family was evicted, and after the ruling of the ECtHR the
government had to pay to the citizen a compensation of 150,000 dollars.
Having lost cases at the ECtHR, the government proposed a settlement
to Sedrak Baghdasaryan and his two neighbors but presented to the
European Court apartments that had been sold earlier.
"The Ministry of Justice presents to the European Court apartments
that had to be provided to me and my neighbors as a compensation. But
those apartments had been sold a long time ago, how would the
Europeans know? They had apparently assumed that the Republic of
Armenia is a serious state, not frauds, thieves and bandits, and
once they provided the apartments, the issue was closed, and our
cases were dismissed. Later this was disclosed, and we applied to
the European Court, we are waiting for the ruling at this stage,"
Sedrak Baghdasaryan said.
Next, the ministry of justice demanded a bribe from Sedrak Baghdasaryan
and his neighbors to administer the note of the European Court. "In
2011 the European Court wrote to us to approach the representative of
our ministry of justice Gevorg Kostanyan. Then Gevorg Kostanyan was
already the military prosecutor. We wrote a letter to Gevorg Kostanyan,
the ministry of justice called us for a meeting, we were received by
the deputy minister of justice Edward Melikyan who is now the head of
the Academy of Judges. He said you have received money for the house,
he says you must give that money, and afterwards we will give that
apartment to you. I said show me a single line in the decision of the
European Court which states that me or my neighbor have to return any
money to you. He tells me you are right, there is no such statement,
but we assumed that you should give us the money. They wanted 23,000
dollars. I asked whether I should give it to them, whether in an
envelope, or to Hrair Tovmasyan, or whether I should transfer it to
the account of the Republican Party," he says.
Ararat Mnatsakanyan and Lev Mnatsakanyan, victims of acquisition at
Pavstos Buzand 13-21, were promised apartments within 2.5 years from
2004 but are still fighting for their right.
"We signed a contract on receiving an apartment in the building built
at 72-80 Aram Street, 2.5 years passed, the building was not built,
we were left outside. The building was not finished until 2007, then
2008, then in 2009, then in 2010-2011, and we were left without any
support, we wrote a lot of letters to different organizations but
did not receive any answer," Ararat Mkrtichyan told Lragir.am who
has been homeless together with his wife and two children for ten
years. He says they do not have passports because they do not have
a place of registration.
"We signed contracts with the power of attorney of the ex-mayor Yervand
Zakharyan stating that we were to have an apartment on Aram Street
within 25 months but 25 became 125. Fraud of 50 million drams was
disclosed, 150 apartments were built which were sold to 520 citizens,"
Lev Mnatsakanyan told us.
He has applied to Armenian courts claiming penalty for delay by
the builder but his claims were dismissed despite the contract
stipulation. The resident claims a compensation of 20 million drams
from the builder. He has also applied to the European Court.
In 2006 the residents approached the ex-prime minister recommending
him to control the program to prevent fraud. The City Hall responded
to this with an assurance that all the contracts are being controlled
by them.
"Had they been controlled, one apartment would not be sold to 4-5
people. We approached the prosecutor general and Serzh Sargsyan,
they did not prevent it," Lev Mnatsakanyan says.
The residents remind that the head of the President's Control Service
Hovhannes Hovsepyan who was supposed to prevent fraud has bought
about 25 apartments and office space at 72-80 Aram Street under the
name of his relatives.
At the end of 2013 the government adopted a "rehabilitation" plan
for the residents of this area. The residents are waiting for them
to fulfill their pledges. And the most expensive pit of Yerevan has
been entrusted to D&H Group which has launched intensive construction.
Homeless residents tell us that they do not have expectations from
the government. "The government does not offer us anything now,
the government may only say that it has some eminent needs, the
president has eminent needs, we need money, give it to us," Sedrak
Baghdasaryan says.
- See more at:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/society/view/31914#sthash.FuJBEDJ7.dpuf
From: A. Papazian