Public organizations are indignant over indifference of Armenian authorities regarding problems of Azatamartik families and soldiers wounded at front line

ArmInfo. The state does not appreciate the merits of those people who fought for the independence of Artsakh, the attitude that the authorities show to the heroes of the Artsakh war and their families is unacceptable. This was announced at a press conference on July 26 by Razmik Rushanyan, director of the NGO for the "Protection of Rights of Azatamartics and Dead Soldiers".

He presented three cases when state structures behaved inappropriately with former war heroes. Thus, the mother of the former azatamartik Onik Baghramyan living in the village of Arat, Ararat region of Armenia, was fined 164,000 AMD for the fact that her second son, who suffers from a psychological illness, illegally used electricity. The woman failed to pay the fine and spent 18 days without light, using a candle, which caused her house to burn. Onik Baghramyan and his mother sent letters to the presidential office and the Prime Minister of Armenia with a request for assistance. However, the family did not receive help to restore the burnt house.

The second case concerns the former war hero Fyodor Petikyan from Gyumri. He was recruited instead of the retired employee, and then, since the employee was able to recover through the court, Petikyan was illegally dismissed from work without notifying him about it. "At the moment, the azatamartik Fyodor Petikyan has no earnings and does not know how to continue living," Rushanyan noted.

And the third case concerns soldier Aram Zakaryan, who was wounded in the head and spine during the Karabakh war and is currently undergoing rehabilitation in the hospital. His parents at one time sold all their property in Vardenis and moved to Russia, but their son voluntarily came to Armenia and joined the army. After he was wounded his parents returned in order to look after him, but they have nowhere to live.  "The Defense Ministry has set up the Nation-Army Foundation, which is supposed to help families of soldiers who have problems, but they did nothing for the Zakaryan family. As the Minister of Defense said, the fund has already issued an apartment to 10 families, but their names are not specified, and I doubt very much that such people exist at all," said the director of the NGO on "Defending the rights of the Azatamartiks and the dead soldiers".  In conclusion, Rushanyan also had a situation in which the soldiers-liberators of the Sasna Tsrer group were found, who are currently under arrest due to the capture of the Patrol Police Service building in July last year. He stated that the members of the group wanted to change the terrible state in which the authorities threw the people, while not excluding the possibility of a repeat of the July 2016 scenario. "The authorities call the war heroes criminals, for trying to make life easier for the people, while the real criminals are those who are in power at the moment," Rushanyan said.

In her turn, the chairman of the Mayr Mane public organization Manushak Stepanyan noted that at the moment the families of the deceased soldiers who are in a very difficult financial situation do not render any assistance. "The president, visiting the house of the deceased soldier, asks his parents how the state can help, not understanding how incorrect this question is. The children of these people gave their lives for the sake of the motherland and the state itself must help the parents of the deceased soldiers on their own initiative. Self-esteem will not say what they need, but how those who came to sympathize with them themselves do not see the terrible conditions in which the families of the dead soldiers live? Do they not have the slightest desire to help these people and somehow lighten their fate", Stepanyan said.

She also noted that the state, which always undertakes to provide families of the dead soldiers with houses, does not take any steps for this. "Such authorities has no right to exist, the state is obliged to provide the families of heroes with a minimum subsistence minimum - to provide them with welfare, living space and free medical care, otherwise the state, indifferent to the families of its heroes, has no future," Manush Stepanyan said.

To note, in 2016 the law "On compensation of damage to life and health of servicemen in the course of military operations" and a number of accompanying laws were enacted, which provided creation of a fund to compensate families of deceased servicemen and wounded soldiers. To replenish the Fund from each working individual of Armenia, 1 thousand AMD are transferred to the fund every month. The document provides for a one-off compensation in the amount of 10 million AMD in the event of the death of a serviceman or disability of the first group, with the disability of the second group - 5 million. After that the men with disabilities of the first group will receive insurance payments for 20 years, so the officers will be paid an insurance payment in the amount of 300 thousand AMD, ensigns - 250 thousand, and the ordinary staff - 200 thousand. And with the disability of the second group, they will receive 200,000, 150,000 and 100,000, respectively. At the same time, if there are three or more children in their family, the families will be paid an additional 100,000 a month.