Writers and artists are going to go to court over union buildings

Writers and artists are preparing to challenge in court the nationalization of their union buildings to the Prosecutor’s Office claims.

“I see the prosecution’s claim as groundless with all the legal consequences,” said Levon Baghdasaryan, the lawyer of the Union of Writers.

Karen Mezhlumyan, lawyer of the Union of Artists, added. – “Those buildings, according to us, were not the property of the state.”

The General Prosecutor’s Office appealed to the court to return the buildings of the Union of Writers and the Union of Artists in Yerevan and marzes to the state. Law enforcers claim that these buildings became state-owned by the law on property of Armenia adopted in 1990 and by a separate decision of the government, but were privatized without the state’s consent.

The prosecutor’s office does not specify why the state decided to deal with the buildings of the unions worth several million dollars. Until then, lawyers defending the interests of writers’ and artists’ unions claim that the buildings were legally privatized.

According to Karen Mezhlumyan, the lawyer of the Union of Artists, if by law the buildings of the union were transferred to the state, then the state itself should have recognized its ownership of them. According to the lawyer, this was not done. the state did not register a certificate of ownership and did not submit it to the Ministry of Privatization operating in the 90s. He emphasizes that it is the government’s decision to demand this.

“In this name, it is recorded once again that the state, no state body has considered that this building is a state building,” he said.

Whether the artists and writers will be deprived of the buildings they own, the government deputy Davit Danielyan raised the question in the National Assembly. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan promised that neither artists nor writers will appear abroad.

“It is possible that not only the Union of Artists, but also all similar organizations will be deprived of the opportunity to put these buildings up for sale in an arbitrary way,” he said.

The details are in the report of “Freedom”.

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