New Details on the Incident of Child Abuse at the Preschool in Poghos Vedi

The parents of a child who was subjected to abuse at the preschool in Poghos Vedi have not filed a complaint against the educator. This was stated by Karen Stepanyan, the head of the Poghos Vedi administrative district, in a conversation with NEWS.am.

Stepanyan noted that he did not expect such behavior from any of the preschool's educators, as he personally knows all of them, especially the educator in the video, with whom he studied for 10 years in the same class.

“Since the day I was appointed as the district head, this issue has been raised very seriously, and up until now, no parent or staff member has approached me regarding such a problem. We learned about this incident from the internet yesterday. The community head was immediately informed, and a report was filed with the police,” he said.

Stepanyan added that the child's parents also learned about the incident yesterday. “I called the parent, and they said they were hearing about this for the first time, that such a thing happened with their child. They weren't even aware of it, as I communicate with them every day. As far as I know, the parents have not filed a formal complaint, but an investigation has been initiated, and in my opinion, such incidents should be completely excluded everywhere; this is not open for discussion. However, the parents know the educator, understand and realize that a person can make mistakes, but knowing that person and understanding the motivation raises the question of why a video shot in May is being released just now. If it wasn’t kept to blackmail someone or to sell it at a high price, if you’re hiding it, that person could be beating a child every day,” the community head noted, adding that he cannot say what the motivation for releasing the video is now.

Stepanyan mentioned that the educator has been working for three years, and it is shocking for everyone that such a thing could happen. “This has been a bad thing for the village, for the preschool, and for the educator. She has young children and parents. To label someone a murderer within an hour on the internet, I don’t know. It's a very bad phenomenon; it’s very unpleasant. The police will investigate, if there’s been a mistake, let them be punished, but to discredit in front of the whole country… she's a woman, a mother; let her be punished with the full severity of the law. But I am surprised how it’s possible to keep that video for a month; perhaps a child was being beaten every day, waiting for some moment to release it. We'll find out everything,” he stated.

It should be noted that a video has circulated online showing an educator beating a child who was lying down to sleep. Various posts indicate that the incident occurred at a preschool in Poghos Vedi. A criminal case has been initiated regarding the incident, and the educator has been detained for 72 hours.