YEREVAN. – It has been two years since the Amulsar [gold] mine has been closed illegally, and the employees have been unable to enter their workplace in any way. Liana Hovsepyan, a representative of Lydian Armenia company, stated this during a press conference.

According to her, from about 300 employees today there are only 15-20 left. "There have been various inspections to restore our rights so that we can work, but no solution has been given so far," he said. “The government is not able to give any solution to this issue. Seeing that the government is not supporting us, having lost our last faith in the government and the prime minister, we had to file a lawsuit with a group of employees last week."

As per Hovsepyan, the claim is to restore their rights, and to recognize the police activity illegal. "Following that lawsuit, we intend to demand that the government compensate for all the financial, psychological damage our employees have suffered during these two years," she added. “By the way, we will not only demand for those two years that we have not worked, but also for those years we had to work. It was planned that the mine would work for 10-15 years. We will go all the way, until the European Court, and demand compensation for all damages."

She informed that about 30 people have petitioned to the court, but that number will increase. "We expect the number of claimants to be 300," Liana Hovsepyan said. “The average [monthly] salary of the employees was about 600,000 drams. If all employees petition and claim their lost wage, imagine what will happen; that's big money. We were promised by the government that, 'We will open, be patient, we will support you,' but no one from the government has supported us to this day.”