Our Demand from the State at the ECHR Will Be $30-35 Million: 36 Former Employees of Lydian Have Filed a Lawsuit

We have not been working for a long time due to a group of activists; the mine has been inactive since 2018. This was mentioned by Liana Hovsepyan, one of the former employees of Lydian, during a conversation with journalists today, July 29.

According to her, several inspections have already been conducted in Amoulsar, and no violations have been detected. "Seeing that our voices are not heard and our applications are not being acted upon, we have decided to file a lawsuit in the administrative court. Our application is underway, and 100 former Lydian employees have joined us. We find the government's approach incomprehensible, as they remain silent and do nothing. Recently, we saw that there were scuffles between the police and environmental activists in Amoulsar. The police chief stated that he supports the activists. It raises a question—are all these actions being taken with the government's permission? Can the government finally make a decision and tell us whether we can work or not? Either our legal rights are restored, the mine is opened, or it is closed unlawfully. We will proceed with other actions," she stated.

Meanwhile, Lydian's former employees' lawyer, Armen Mekumyan, reported that a lawsuit has already been filed by 36 former employees in the administrative court, with the first hearing scheduled for August 6. "Another 86 people have joined this lawsuit. Our demand is to recognize the mine's inactivity as unlawful. The police have not fulfilled their obligations since June 2018 and do not protect workers' rights. The roads to the mine are not opened, and the hooliganism is not eliminated. We can state that we have no police presence in Amoulsar and the surrounding areas; we also have no state presence. This is an unprecedented phenomenon. If there is no judicial act in our favor, we have the opportunity to bring this issue to the ECHR. In that case, if we consider the high salaries received by employees, our demand from the state will be between $30-35 million," the lawyer said.