Compensation for Victims of March 1 Events Set at 5-30 Million AMD

The government approved a draft resolution on "the form, amount, and procedure for providing support to individuals affected by the events that took place in Yerevan from March 1 to 2, 2008."

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated, "This is a very important decision, but it has many nuances and is a very delicate issue. I want to emphasize that the amounts defined by this decision do not imply compensation in any way. Specifically, this does not determine the price of life for a citizen of Armenia. This is merely formulated as support. We are in a delicate situation in this regard… You are all aware that I personally was involved in the events of March 1, 2008, and participated in them. It is crucial that we make balanced decisions rather than emotional ones. Based on discussions, as well as a number of precedential decisions of the European Court of Human Rights regarding Armenia, we have made this decision at this stage. My understanding is that these issues will receive final resolution from the ECHR, that is, the question of compensation and its amount will be determined by the ECHR, allowing us to manage very delicate situations within domestic systems. I say this because with this decision we are not providing compensation; we are providing support to affected citizens. Compensation is a matter of a different level and should be determined through somewhat different procedures, although it is also possible that, from the perspective of potential state budget expenses, this support may also be accounted for in the logic of that potential compensation calculation," he noted.

Accordingly, the government has set the form, amount, and procedure for providing support, as well as the application form, the list of documents to be attached to the application, and the procedure for discussing the application. The goal of the proposed project is to establish necessary procedural regulations for the effective implementation of the support provision process mandated by law.

Specifically, the following regulations are proposed:

• It is established that the funding for the provided support will be carried out from the state budget of the Republic of Armenia,
• The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia is designated as the authorized body responsible for discussing applications for support,
• It is confirmed that based on the reconciliation and assessment of all the received documents, the authorized body will make one of the following justified decisions: to approve the application and provide support, to reject the application, or to suspend the discussion of the application. Moreover, it is emphasized that the application is rejected if the applicant's right to receive support is not confirmed,
• As the form of support, monetary assistance is established in the following amounts: 30,000,000 AMD for individuals who have a legal heir status in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia due to the death caused by injuries, 15,000,000 AMD for individuals who have sustained serious harm to health, and 5,000,000 AMD for individuals who have sustained moderate harm to health.