The Ghukasyan family learned about the news of alienation a day before the eviction at midnight, when the CEJO (Compulsory Enforcement of Judicial Orders) employees came and told them that the area had to be freed by 11 o'clock the next morning. They received the official notice of alienation only today.

On March 11 lawyer Tigran Hayrapetyan said that the CEJO employees were to take the property alienated yesterday at the "Milano" store to the storehouse rented by Karagulian, however till yesterday midnight CEJO employees would not tell them where the property from the store was moved.

It is due to the suit by the Diaspora Armenian Avetis Karagulian that owner of "Milano" Hovanes Ghukasyan is being evicted from his area without any compensation. 

In the lawyer's words, when Ghukasyan learned that CEJO planned to take his property to Karagulian's storehouse, he told CEJO employees: "So the lamb is taken to the wolf's mouth."

Only after Ghukasyan applied to the procurator's office and National Security Service about larceny CEJO employees have today informed the owner of the store that they can bring back the property taken out in two trucks. Today however the same CEJO employees were continuing to take the property out of the store. 

Hayrapetyan says CEJO's decision is based on the court's decision which, however, does not say that property of "Olymp" has to be alienated.   

The court decision says: satisfy the suit by "Afo FM" LTD, oblige Hovanes Ghukasyan sign a contract and after the decision comes into effect pay him the due sum from the court deposit account. However Karagulian refused to sign a contract, the decision made by the court 3 months ago is not carried into effect and Ghukasyan is not given the due compensation.

"If they wanted to evict, they could pack the property, put it in some corner or offer the owner to put it under his observation, or if the latter had no appropriate area, the CEJO employees could have offered their storehouse," the lawyer said adding that after working day was over and employees of "Olymp" had left the store, the CEJO employees without appropriate uniforms were one-sidedly making an inventory, putting the property of the store into packages and without sealing and enumerating them moving them out. All of this is recorded on a video.

"Making an inventory only, to say nothing of transportation, needs minimum 3 weeks," says the lawyer. "If 4 employees of tax department can make inventory for 17 million dram property in 4-5 hours, how can almost the same number of CEJO employees make inventory of 600 million dram property? If we divide this figure, 600 million drams, by the number of employees doing inventory, we'll see that they would need at least 3 weeks." 

Hovanes Ghukasyan had to pay tax inspection a 17 million dram fine. Yesterday tax inspection employees calculated property worth of that sum and gave it to the owner, Ghukasyan, to put it under his observation.   

Christine Vardanyan