Claim Initiated against Teachers. “Apologize and pay 3 million AMD Each”
00:00, June 22, 2011 | Press Release | Children's rights, Right to Fair Trial | Police
Vanadzor resident, Tamara Adamyan filed a lawsuit at the Lori Region Court of General Jurisdiction with a claim that #11 Vanadzor High School Principal, Narine Sahakyan and three teachers, should be held liable.
38-year old Tamara accuses the school principal and teaching staff of slandering and insulting her underage daughter. She claims that they should make a public apology and pay 3 million AMD each as compensation for moral damage (1million AMD for offense and 2 million AMD for slanders).
The mother insists that the child had been unreasonably suspected of robbery and accused of embezzlements. Also, the child was subjected to numerous insults and degrading attitudes. “In the presence of my peers, the Russian teacher told me, “To a student like you, the mother should give poisonso that you drink it and die.” In the presence of my mother I was told I had no right to have a mother”, relatesseven grade student, Mariam Adamyan, adding that the principal wanted to slap her, but one of the teachers held her back. In the words of school principal, Narine Sahakyan, nobody had offended the child or suspected her of robbery. She denies the statements of the mother and her daughter by explaining that they gave the names of teachers, who had never exposed ill-attitude towards the school student. In the principal’s words, the school administration has revealed that 7th grade, Mariam, had been collecting money from 4th graders for over a year by means of terrorizing and scaring them. “Two girls informed us that she had threatened to “pin their eyes out” if they told their family about the incident.”Being well aware of all this, the principal advised Mariam’s mother to collect her daughter’s documents from school and enroll her in another school. “Male students from the 7th grade, being well aware of Mariam’s deeds, displayed aggressive attitude towards her, and I had suggested to the mother to take her daughter to another school in order to avoid spreading rumors about her”, explains the principal regarding the reasons for expelling the child from her school.
Contrary to this, Tamara Adamyan claims that the principal gave her two alternatives: either to write an application to collect her child’s documents from school or write an application to the RA Police Vanadzor Department Juvenile Unit. Mariam Adamyan is currently on probation registration at the RA Police Vanadzor Department Juvenile Unit so that disciplinary activities can be carried out with her if re-occurrences of such cases present themself in the future. During the preliminary preparation of documents, the Police investigations revealed that she had periodically borrowed money (50, 100, 110, 500 AMD) from children in the lower grades.
Human rights activist Artur Sakunts, head of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor states that the law-enforcement body has conducted a one-sided examination without considering the child’s opinion. Only the claims of the principal and the teachers were taken into consideration. “Taking her under probationary registration byitselfis a psychological trauma exerted on a childand this can serve as a precedent for other cases”, states Sakunts. By Sakunts’ words, instead of paying attention to the parent’s complains regarding inhumane treatment by the teachers towards her child, the police are obviously patronizing the school personnel. “The law-enforcement body is subsequently engaged in patronage, how can someone go against the school principalwho is the wife of the RA Lori Region Head of Education and Cultural Department?”, wonders Artur Sakunts. Lawyer Arayik Zalyan adds that the police responded to Tamara Adamyan’s application with a conclusion that has no legal force. “The conclusion cannot be considered a legal act”, explains the lawyer.
The Human Rights organization is going to dispute the legality of the conclusion at court and raise the issue of holding the principal and the teachers liable at the RA Ministry of Education and Science as well as identify if teachers displaying such behaviors have the right to work in the school.
It should be noted that Tamara Adamyan has recorded the 2-day conversations with the teachers and the principal. The recoded tape has been sent to the Court. On June 1, the Lori Region Court of General Jurisdiction, presided by Naira Avetisyan, will hear the case of Tamara Adamyan against #11 Vanadzor High School principal Narine Sahakyan and teachers Syuzanna Sahakyan, Rani Vahramova and Natalya Aleksanyan.