Graveyard Fencing Torn Down in Kanaker, New Burial at Same Site

For two days now, residents of Yerevan, Nune and Rafik Aleksanyan, have been trying to get a clear answer from the well-known funeral bureau regarding who, or with whose permission, has committed trespass against their family grave in the Kanaker graveyard. Today, on September 13, in an interview with Shamshyan.com, the Aleksanyans stated: "A few days ago, we visited our family grave, which has been in our family since 1973, where my grandfather, Nshyan Aleksanyan, was buried that year, and my grandmother, Araksya Aleksanyan, was buried in 1984. We visited the grave and were stunned: a considerable part of our family grave has been vandalized by someone unknown. The fencing has been broken and thrown away, along with the table and chair, and in their place, a new tomb has appeared. We found out that the area belonging to us was given by the funeral bureau to another citizen, who, unaware of the situation, buried his relative there. We do not blame him; the culprits are the authorities of the Kanaker graveyard, who have presumably defiled our grave for some profit and allocated an entire section to another citizen. We have already informed the Kanaker-Zeitun police about the incident, and we are waiting for an objective investigation to be conducted and for the guilty parties to be held to the strictest accountability. How could such vandalism be allowed by an Armenian? For several days, we have been trying to contact the officials of the Kanaker graveyard and the funeral bureau, but they are not answering our phone calls."