SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL
Onnik Krikorian

Transitions Online
Dec 1 2009
Czech Republic

Alleged abuse at an Armenian school for the disabled led to a criminal
probe – of the young activist who blew the whistle.

YEREVAN | In what is still a conservative and hidebound country,
Mariam Sukhudyan hardly comes across as typical. The smell of incense
wafts across her family’s modest apartment in the Armenian capital, and
meditative music plays softly. Her bicycle, a rarity in a car-obsessed
culture, takes up most of the hallway that leads to the front door.

But the low-key, even passive figure Sukhudyan cuts at home belies
her situation as the latest in a line of young activists in the
South Caucasus who find themselves in the unwanted glare of official
attention.

The 29-year-old made her name as an environmentalist, protesting the
felling of parts of the Teghut forest in northeast Armenia as part
of plans to develop a copper mine. But while her counterparts find
themselves politically isolated, Sukhudyan has become a target of
Armenia’s criminal-justice system, facing prosecution for publicizing
alleged physical and sexual abuse of students in one of the country’s
dilapidated, Soviet-era boarding schools for children with physical,
mental, and emotional disabilities.

Complaints about conditions at the institutions are nothing new. While
enrollment at the schools has declined from 12,000 to 5,000 in
recent years, some remain dumping grounds for children from socially
vulnerable families, who enroll their children in the schools to get
food and clothing donated to the facilities.

Sukhudyan contends the slander charges over her allegations of abuse
at a Yerevan boarding school are aimed at curbing her environmental
activism.

Critics say school directors, who receive funding on a per-capita
basis, oppose government plans to return children to their biological
parents, or place them in foster care, and integrate them into
mainstream education. That plan is backed by international children’s
organizations such as UNICEF and World Vision, who argue that a focus
on inclusive education is better for many learning-disabled kids than
effectively hiding them away in residential institutions.

"A strategy is being implemented to restructure boarding schools,
but the issue is one of finance and a lack of specialists in this
area," said Kristine Mikhailidi, child-protection officer at World
Vision Armenia. "De-institutionalization should occur by 2015, but
the situation remains one of concern."

Sukhudyan’s claims, however, went well beyond issues of substandard
care. After volunteering at the Nubarashen No. 11 boarding school in
Yerevan last year, she told local media about conditions there. The
main public television station aired her accusations last November.

"According to accounts from the children, they are subjected to
beatings and other forms of physical punishment," according to an
online statement signed by Sukhudyan and 11 other volunteers at
the school. "We personally witnessed needlessly harsh treatment of
children by teachers and night guards. The school director and other
administrative workers use children as a free labor force in their
homes and summer houses."

After investigating the allegations, police brought defamation charges
against Sukhudyan, exposing her to up to five years in prison. None
of the 11 other volunteers who went public is being prosecuted. In
October the charge was reduced to slander, but Sukhudyan still faces
up to three years in jail and a fine of 100,000 to 500,000 dram
(about $260 to $1,300).

"The new charge is because of the publicity surrounding my situation,
and because they simply can’t prove the previous charge," she said. A
conviction for slander rather than defamation would also make
Sukhudyan eligible for an amnesty introduced in the wake of last
year’s post-election violence – but only in exchange for admitting
guilt, which she has refused to do.

"I’m innocent. Why should I lie and say I’m not? I do not want to
make my life easier. It’s simpler for me to go until the very end
and the European Court of Human Rights if necessary."

The allegations helped prompt Armenia’s government to form a committee
to monitor the boarding schools. Many familiar with the facilities
also take the volunteers’ accusations seriously.

"Physical abuse is always there," Mikhailidi said. "They are yelling,
they are beating on these kids, and all these things are happening.

Closed facilities, no interaction with society, no one is coming in,
they don’t have skills to work with these kids – all this brings an
abusive situation."

UNWELCOME DELAY

A teacher accused by two children from the school of sexually abusing
them resigned soon after the allegations were aired, but generally
the school’s staff denies claims of widespread abuse.

"They are lying," said Donara Hovhanissyan, Nubarashen’s head of
education, of Sukhudyan and her colleagues. "Because they were so
young and inexperienced, they didn’t understand that every child here
has mental disabilities and very active imaginations. It’s very easy
for them to make something up."

Sukhudyan acknowledges she never witnessed any sexual abuse at
Nubarashen. But she stands by the children’s claims.

"This little girl who was speaking about serious sexual abuse was
terribly distressed," Sukhudyan said. "She was in such a state that
I was saying we shouldn’t ask any more questions because she was in
such emotional distress."

One of the departed teacher’s two accusers has since retracted her
allegations, but Sukhudyan contends she did so under pressure from
school officials. She said the teenage girl discussed the matter with
Armin Gharibyan, another Nubarashen volunteer, and that a recording of
the conversation was turned over to police, who rejected it as material
evidence. According to Armenian press reports, the official transcript
of the recording omits any discussion of the alleged coercion.

At a press conference in early November, Sukhudyan’s lawyer played
the recording and accused the authorities of tampering with evidence.

Prosecutors subsequently ordered a re-investigation of the case,
on the grounds that the recording, and the testimony of the other
alleged victim, who has not recanted, were not accepted as evidence
in the original probe.

Rather than welcome this seeming victory for the defense, however,
Sukhudyan said the delay is frustrating, as she has been confined
to Yerevan pending a resolution of the case, and thus prevented from
attending public meetings in Teghut on the copper mine.

"I can’t help but link this case with Teghut, because I’m not the
first activist to be subjected to such pressure," she told Radio Free
Europe in August. "This may be a good opportunity [for the authorities]
to break our movement and force me to shut up."

Other prominent civil society activists express similar concerns. "It
looks like active citizens are not encouraged in our country," Sona
Ayvazyan, a specialist at the Armenian affiliate of Transparency
International, told journalists at an August demonstration by
Sukhudyan’s supporters. "The authorities seem to be trying to eliminate
such citizens one by one. Mariam is simply the latest victim, and we
don’t know who will be next."

Onnik Krikorian is a freelance photojournalist and writer based in
Yerevan. He is also the Caucasus region editor for Global Voices
Online and writes from Armenia for the Frontline Club.