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On March 5, 2018 the Lori General Jurisdiction Court of First Instance ruled to involve the Ministry of Defense of the RA as a co-defendant in the case pertaining to the provision of compensation to the ex-serviceman.

He was recognized as fit for military service with certain restrictions and was drafted on January 29, 2015. And on September 15 of the same year, during military service he was recognized as unfit for military service on the grounds of getting a disease when serving; thus, he was granted an early discharge.

The ex-serviceman and his representative – Syuzanna Soghomonyan, advocate at Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office, claim a compensation for damage from the Republic of Armenia on behalf of the Ministry of Finances.

The claim for the loss of working capacity is to rule in favor of the ex-serviceman and to collect a sum from the RA in the amount corresponding to the degree of the loss of working capacity for each month since September 2015.

During the court hearing held yesterday, the representative of the RA Ministry of Finances filed a motion to involve the RA Defense Ministry as a co-defendant.

S. Soghomonyan objected to the motion. She indicated that, pursuant to the RA Civil Code, in such cases compensation is provided by the Republic of Armenia on behalf of the Ministry of Finances. The Ministry of Defense may bear the responsibility for the provision of compensation only in cases prescribed by the law. In the given case there is no legal provision under which damage caused to health shall be compensated by the Ministry of Defense.

The RA Ministry of Finance insisted on its motion and supported it by mentioning that the Ministry of Defense has a relevant department which is funded from the budget, and the issue could have been solved if the plaintiff had applied to the Ministry of Defense.

In response to that, the representative of the plaintiff presented the applications submitted to the RA Defense Ministry in 2016 and 2017 through which the serviceman claimed compensation. However, the Ministry of Defense rejected the claim, arguing that there were no financial means in the RA state budget prescribed for compensation in such cases.

This argument of the plaintiff surprised the representative of the Ministry of Finance. Nevertheless, he stated that the Ministry of Defense has a relevant department and should be involved as a co-defendant.

The court upheld the motion.

The next court hearing is scheduled for 10.00 am on May 18, 2018.