Mothers of servicemen killed in last Artsakh war holding protest in  front of RA Ministry of Justice 

ArmInfo. For three years, the Armenian justice system, including the Ministry of Justice, has been unable to resolve the issue of the mother of two Armenian soldiers killed in the last Artsakh war on September 19, 2023. This is the message from Ruzanna Stepanyan, coordinator of the Pan-Armenian Front movement.

In an interview with journalists during a protest held today in front of the Armenian government building, Stepanyan said that in 2024, a certain Arman Nahapetyan fraudulently took $12,000 from an Artsakh refugee-the mother of the fallen soldiers-whose proceeds were obtained by selling her son's car. He intended to use the money to erect tombstones for the fallen soldiers. Stepanyan noted that the case is pending before the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction of the Ajapnyak Administrative District, and, in their opinion, for the third year in a row, neither the Ministry of Justice, which has effective mechanisms for evaluating judges' performance, nor, of course, the court itself, have been able to resolve the issue and return the stolen money.

Stepanyan and the mother of the fallen soldiers are convinced that the process is being deliberately delayed, as court hearings are constantly being postponed due to the absence of the defendant's defense attorney.  Meanwhile, the defendant refuses to return the money, despite admitting that he did indeed take the money, albeit a smaller amount, for the installation of tombstones.

Furthermore, the coordinator of the Pan-Armenian Front movement noted that this is not the first time fraudsters have exploited the vulnerable position of relatives of fallen soldiers.

Meanwhile, the victim reported that she had approached the head of the Armenian Ministry of Justice regarding this matter and was told that the issue is beyond their jurisdiction.

During the protest, the government announced the need to report the crime and promised to provide legal assistance. However, despite this, the protesters announced their intention to also march to the building of the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia. The mother of the fallen servicemen also stated that if the next hearing is cancelled due to the absence of a public defender, she will be forced to hold a sit-in.

As a reminder, on September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan, under the pretext of an "anti-terrorist operation," initiated a large-scale aggression against Artsakh, which led to the complete de-Armenization of the NKR.  This was preceded by a nearly 10-month blockade of the unrecognized republic. The enemy aggression, which claimed thousands of lives, culminated in the complete ethnic cleansing of Artsakh in September 2023. Over 150,000 Artsakh residents lost their homeland and became refugees.