Naira Zohrabyan: Until our citizens oppose, the Amulsar Mine should  not be exploited

ArmInfo. MPs of the National Assembly of Armenia Naira Zohrabyan, Ani Samsonyan and Vice-Speaker of the Parliament Vahe Enfiajyan met with activists protesting against the exploitation of the Amulsar Mine.

As ArmInfo previously reported, activists tried to enter the  courtyard of the Armenian parliament and hold a meeting there, but  they were not given such an opportunity, after which they tried to  block traffic in front of the National Assembly of Armenia. However,  after short negotiations with the protesters, the police, using  force, began to force the protesters out of the roadway. After some  time, traffic was restored. Police detained 6 protesters.

Ani Samsonyan, a member of the Bright Armenia faction, said she would  stay with the protesters so that the police could not use force  against peaceful demonstrators. The MP also stated that the  exploitation of Amulsar Mine should not be allowed.

In turn, head of the parliamentary commission on human rights, MP  from the Prosperous Armenia faction Naira Zagrabyan noted that the  MPs came to support the people. "The power in the country belongs to  the people. The people have clearly expressed their position, and as  long as our citizens oppose, the Amulsar Mine should not be  exploited," Zohrabyan concluded.

It should be noted that MP of the National Assembly from the  Prosperous Armenia party Sergey Bagratyan, also visited the protest  action, he noted that he came to the rally to support the people.  According to him, the program put forward by Lydian Armenia is  inferior, because it does not guarantee the safety of the Arpa, Darb  and Vorotan rivers. "If these problems are not resolved, then what  kind of development can be discussed? Only this is enough to prevent  the Mind from being exploited," the MP asked.  To recall, activists  and environmentalists were unsatisfied with the results of their  meeting with the Prime Minister. As activist Ani Khachatryan noted,  the struggle for Amulsar will continue.  There was also a slight  brawl between a police officer and one of the activists; however, the  situation is currently relatively calm. A protest rally in front of  the residence of the President of Armenia continues.

It should be noted that after a meeting with environmentalists,  activists and residents of the city of Jermuk, who oppose the  exploitation of the Amulsar Gold Mine, the Prime Minister of Armenia  Nikol Pashinyan convened a private meeting with the MPs of the My  Step faction. The meeting takes place in the office of the Civil  Contract party.

To recall, on August 14, the Investigative Committee of Armenia  submitted an expert opinion on the Amulsar project of the Lebanese  consulting company Earthlink & Advanced Resources Development  (ELARD). As the head of the Committee Hayk Grigoryan stated at a  government meeting on August 15, 3 important conclusions can be made  on the basis of the expert opinion. First of all, as Grigoryan noted,  this refers to the fact that there is no direct connection between  the underground waters located on the territory of the Amulsar  project and the thermal hot springs of Jermuk. There is also no  connection with the waters of the Sevan basin. "At the same time,  during an earthquake, a certain concentration of acid drainage can  penetrate into the basin of Lake Sevan through the reservoirs of  Spandaryan and Ketchut. However, the combination of this  concentration will be insignificant on the scale of Lake Sevan," the  head of the investigating body said. The third important conclusion  that can be drawn based on the expert's conclusion is that the  possible impact of groundwater from the Amulsar field on the Arpa,  Debet and Darb rivers can be mitigated if Lydian Armenia takes 16  environmental mitigation measures proposed by experts.  As Grigoryan  pointed out, representatives of Lydian Armenia have already expressed  their readiness to implement 15 of the proposed 16 events: they are  already carrying out 10 events, and they will be ready to conduct  another 5 measures in the near future. The head of the Committee  noted that at present there are grounds for terminating the criminal  case instituted under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code of the Republic  of Armenia (Concealment or willful misrepresentation of information  on environmental pollution.