During a campaign event in Charentsavan, a resident approached Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, saying that his son had been declared killed in 2020 and a body had been handed over to the family, but later information suggested he was actually in captivity.
“My son was killed in 2020, they gave me a body, but it turns out my son is in captivity. Even if the world collapses, I will find my son, Aram Yelinyan,” the man said while showing a video, according to Panorama.am .
Another resident, Greta Baghabyan, said she had been waiting three hours to raise her issue.
“I am the aunt of a soldier killed in the 44-day war. He has three minor children. The youngest was only two years old when his father was killed. Now their benefits have been cut. Can you explain why?” she asked in Charentsavan.
She also said that her own and her brother’s benefits had been reduced after officials visited their home and saw they owned a television and refrigerator, despite both being pensioners.
Another woman displaced from Արցախ said her son and son-in-law had been killed in Jabrayil and asked authorities to exhume her son’s remains from Stepanakert.
“We buried him in Hadrut, then I exhumed him and moved him to Stepanakert, but now I cannot even place a flower on my son’s grave,” she said.
She added that after receiving 10 million drams in state compensation for her fallen son, the family bought a home in Charentsavan as a memorial before being displaced from Արցախ. However, after relocation, her daughter-in-law and son were denied 4 million drams in housing assistance because they already owned property in Armenia. She asked that the assistance still be provided so the family could at least buy land.
Pashinyan replied that under the regulations, housing assistance is allocated only to displaced persons from Արցախ who do not own homes in Armenia. The woman responded that the house had been purchased with compensation paid for her deceased son.
The prime minister said he understood the issue and promised to review the matter separately.
Another Charentsavan resident, identified as Matevosyan, stated that although his son had died, since 2022 he has still been officially listed as a fugitive.
The election campaign that began on May 8 will continue until June 5. June 6 will be observed as a day of silence, while elections are scheduled for June 7. On May 25, it became known that the Alliance Progressive Centrist Party submitted a withdrawal request, after which the Central Electoral Commission invalidated the registration of the party’s electoral list. Ballot number 13 will not appear in the upcoming elections.
