EcoLur
On 4 February, the first court hearing on of the new court case on Amulsar gold project was held at RA Administrative Court. The plaintiffs, 19 residents of Jermuk resort town and Gndevaz Village, have sued RA Nature Protection Minister Erik Grigoryan demanding to obligate him to annul the positive opinion № ԲՓ 35 issued to the amended project of Amulsar gold-bearing quartzite mining and RA Nature Protection Minister's approval dated on 29.04.2016.
The participants in the court hearing were the defense barrister Nazeli Vardanyan, plaintiff Tehmine Yenoqyan, a resident of Gndevaz Village, Yervand Muradyan –a representative of the defendant, RA Nature Protection Minister. There was no representative of RA Finance Ministry involved as the third party. The court hearing was chaired by Artsrun Mirzoyan.
Barrister Nazeli Vardanyan presented three factors, on which the claim is based.
'6 out of 19 citizens are Jermuk residents, 13 are Gndevaz residents, where the mining is planned and as a result of which the residents are already incurring both health and material damage. They have lost their orchards, pastures, their main drinking water spring has been polluted. People breathe in the dust generated from the construction works of the mine. Because of all this, the residents have applied to Nature Protection Minister, as the company doesn't present any exact data,' Nazeli Vardanyan said.
RA Nature Protection Ministry representative Yervand Muradyan filed a motion to suspend the trial of the case: the substantiation is the criminal case initiated at RA Investigative Committee on 20 July 2018 o the intentional concealing of information about environmental pollution by the officials of RA Nature Protection Ministry.
Yervand Manaryan filed a motion to suspend the examination of court case till reaching a decision on this criminal case. Barrister Nazeli Vardanyan noted the given criminal case has no relation to the new factors and requirements posed by the plaintiffs.
The court demanded from the defendant to present the decision on initiating a criminal case and the facts based on which a criminal case has been initiated. The defendant asked to provide him two weeks.
The court reached a decision to involve 'Environmental Impact Expert Assessment Center' SNCO as the third party of the case. The parties didn't have objections in this regard. The new court hearing has been appointed by the judge in two months – at 14:30 on 8 April.
February 04, 2019 at 20:31