RA OMBUDSMAN CALLS ON CITIZENS WHO SUFFERED FROM URBAN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS TO ASSERT THEIR RIGHTS
Noyan Tapan
May 31 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. The decision of the RA Constitutional
Court has provided the citizens, who lost their houses as a result
of urban development programs in downtown Yerevan, with a new legal
opportunity to protect their rights. The RA Ombudsman Armen Harutyunian
stated this during the May 31 press conference dedicated to the 100th
day of his term of office. He reminded that citizens have received the
right to appeal to court based on a newly discovered evidence until
July 18. He believes that irrespective of court rulings, citizens will
have document-based grounds to continue defending their rights in the
European Court of Human Rights. A. Harutyunian said that he filed
a petition to the RA Prime Minister Andranik Margarian, in which,
taking into account the necessity to rule out further violations
of citizens’s rights and to restore their violated rights during
implementation of urban development programs, he proposed suspending
forced alienation of citizens’ property for state needs (until a law
regulating such proceses is adopted) and discussing the possibility
of paying back the 10% income tax deducted from the sums calculated
for owners and users by a compensation agreement. According to the RA
Ombudsman, there are problems with unauthorized buildings, as a result
of which the rights of other citizens are violated. The RA Ombudsman
Staff has sent a certificate based on such cases to the mayor and is
waiting for a response. Another certificate was filed to the Head of
the RA Department for Compulsory Execution of Court Acts, taking into
consideration a large number of complaints about execution of court
acts. During the 3 first months of the ombudsman’s term of office, the
RA Ombudsman Staff’s employees paid 15 visits to marzes. The ombudsman
received 770 applications, but many complaints were not related to
the activity of the RA Ombudsman. In the opinion of A. Harutyunian,
the human rights sitiation is not satisfactory in Armenia, “there is
much to be done”. In response to a question, A. Harutyunian said that
he has received an application from Chairman of the Heritage party,
former Armenian foreign minister Raffi Harutyunian in connection with
the illegal use of his office property. The RA Ombudsman noted that
the case will be examined, after which R. Hovhannisian’s application
qualified as a “Report on Crime” will be sent to the prosecutor’s
office for investigation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
