Protesters start sit-in outside presidential residence
Relatives of the crew of an Armenian airplane that crashed in the Islamic Republic of Iran on May 17, 2001, started an indefinite sit-in outside the presidential residence, demanding full compensation for their losses.
"The government calculated and decided to give my mother-in-law 100 000 drams and my children 40 000 drams a month. To date, we have received no penny. Today the Minister of Justice says that the issue is deadlocked," said protester Susanna Grigoryan.
The protesters say they have appealed to all relevant bodies but to no avail.
"I came to Yerevan from Ararat to get the 20 000 drams foreseen by the agreement. New zeros will be added to the sum that will later go into the pocket of Serzh Sargsyan. As usual, our government and authorities will turn a blind eye to our demands," said Lyuba Vardanyan.
The protesters said their relatives had left for Iran to work there.
"Years ago we went to Iran to present our demands but we were told that the money earned by our sons was sent to Robert Kocharyan. We were advised to return to Armenia and take the money from Kocahryan. Today we demand that Kocharyan meet our demands instead of suing opposition newspapers," they said.
The protesters are going to start a hunger strike in case they receive a negative reply.
