From now on, Astghik Hovhannisyan’s two children will come from school
and see that they no longer have a place to call home. On September 30
of this year, about forty officials and policemen took the family out
of its home. The six member family is being removed by order of the
court.
The residents had prepared barricades beforehand to resist the police
officers from the subdivisions (the fifty residents living on Byuzand
street are threatened to be expelled from their homes). There was no
resistance and the police office subdivisions easily kicked Astghik
Hovhannisyan, her brother and parents out of their home.
The officers are expelling them because they had not agreed to the
contract proposed by the “Vizkon” Inc. obligatory contract. According
to the contract, the residents were to receive $10,500 dollars for
moving out of the house. There are six people living in the house and
four of them are registered permanently. According to the court
decision, the organization that wishes to use the building for its
interests must pay $3,500 dollars to each of the registered residents.
At first, “Vizcon” Inc. only wanted to pay two of the residents ($7,000
dollars), but later the court decided that it must pay all three of the
residents. The company refuses to pay Astghik’s eight year old boy
David, who is the fourth registered resident. The court has made a
decision in favor of “Vizkon” and the Hovhannisyan family has appealed
to the second instance court. While the officials were taking the
family’s belongings out of the house, the Hovhannisyans were awaiting
the letter from the court which was supposed to stop the officials from
expelling them. The court had not reached a verdict and the case was in
the second instance court.
Astghik’s father, 61 year old Hrachya, has lived here-17 Byuzand
street-his whole life. His whole life changed this morning by the
expulsion from his home and his new life began under an open sky. His
sister-in-law tells him: “Hrachik, forget that you were born here.” The
court officials did not even let the family return and collect their
items after they kicked them out. They didn’t even let Hrachik get his
clothes so that he can have an alternative. After Astghik and her
mother persuaded the officers, they were allowed to go in and get their
documents. However, in all that chaos, they were not able to get all of
the things which, according to them, were being kept in some bag
(jewelry and the $2000 dollars that they owed).
While the court officials were taking out the belongings, the workers
were tearing down the wall, the roof and they took out the windows so
that the house remained deserted. The Hovhannisyans do not know where
they will spend the night. “I kept asking the representative from the
“Vizkon” company to at least provide us with a 40 square meter home and
told him that we did not need any money,” says Astghik. The family can
not buy even a small house in the outskirts of the city.
“They have been pressuring us for one year,” says 32 year old Astghik
as she cries. “We are going to move out and be left out on the street.
We don’t know how to get rid of these beasts. We simply don’t know. We
don’t even have a tent to cover ourselves.”
The decision for expulsion reads that the officials must suspend their
rights to use the territory and use it for state needs. The state
interest is considered to be the construction of a private, elite
building.
In response to the question about whether or not one does not feel any
pity for leaving a family out on the streets, head of the expulsion and
residency department of the Yerevan police headquarters Tigran
Tadevosyan said that we were offending him. He meant that anyone may
feel bad if he or she has any pity.
While the officers were clearing out the house, a letter came from the
court stating that it had suspended the expulsion, but the officials
were still doing their job. They wanted to finish the job so quickly
that they even broke some plates and damaged the closet.
Half an hour after the cargo started to move and the officers had left,
the lawyer brought the letter sent from the second instance court which
was addressed to Tigran Tadevosyan. The letter stated that the court
had decided that the expulsion was not legalized and that it needed to
be stopped.
The Hovhannisyans returned to their house which was already empty and
almost in ruins. At the present, Astghik’s children live with their
relatives. The other residents of the building have remodeled the
windows, they have brought a foldable bed and they live in a house
which is almost in ruins. The ceiling can fall at any moment because it
is not supported by a roof. The workers have told the Hovhannisyans
that the administration of the “Vizkon” company has “done them a favor”
by not destructing the home and giving them the opportunity to return.
During another expulsion on the same street, the workers had destructed
the home so much that the residents who had been left out on the street
could not live there anymore and were living in the house next to the
ruined one.
On October 4, the lawyer from the “ Vizkon” company paid a visit to the
family and informed them of the administration’s threats. They claimed
that the bulldozer would tear the house down if the family did not move
out in the course of two days. Ashot, the lawyer, asked the reporter to
not ask him any questions and it was clearly evident that he felt bad
that he had to be the one to tell the family the news.
“I will throw oil on them and myself, I will burn them,” says Astghik.
The Hovhannisyans claim that the workers refuse to destruct a home
where there is a family living. “It seems as if though we are in an ant
house for them to come and just tear the whole place apart. The driver
of the bulldozer told me that until he doesn’t come to terms with the
other residents, he will never go through with a bulldozer,” says
Astghik’s mother Gohar.