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.