SOS for Campaigner: “Whistleblower” sees accusatory finger pointed at her

Supporters of a young environmental activist who alerted the media about alleged child abuse and mistreatment in one of Armenia’s boarding schools only to be later accused of ‘false denunciation’ believes she is suffering retribution for her active campaigning to save forests from government-backed mine developers.

Mariam Sukhudyan, a 29-year-old member of the environment protection group SOS Teghut fighting for the conservation of rich forests in northern Armenia, was among volunteers who worked at Boarding School No. 11 in Nubarashen, near Yerevan, last year under a United Nations project to boost educational standards in Armenia. She as well as her dozen colleagues later accused the school administration of failing to ensure the minimal standards of teaching and hygiene and routinely ill-treating students. They also cited some students as alleging sexual harassment by Armenian language teacher Levon Avagyan.

Following the alert from Sukhudyan and others, Armenian Public Television late last year ran two stories based on its own reporting, quoting students as alleging sexual harassment by their teacher, who quit shortly after.

Police followed on the report and launched a probe first on the abuse allegation. But in February prosecutors turned on Diana Amirkhanyan, a teenage girl who made the allegation, with a slander charge. Amirkhanyan withdrew her accusations, leaving Sukhudyan exposed to the “false denunciation” charge.

Sukhudyan was charged on August 15. She is now confined to city limits while police investigate the case.

Sukhudyan’s lawyer Nona Galstyan says she is baffled why investigators base the case only on the first TV report. A schoolgirl featured in the second report has not withdrawn her accusations.

Boarding school principal Meruzhan Yengibaryan denies the accusations made against the school. “We have very good conditions and no one uses violence against children,” he says.

Yengibaryan says Avagyan, a father of two and a veteran teacher, quit his job because he couldn’t stay in school after such allegations were made against him.

Meanwhile, Avagyan gives a different explanation.

“I am not guilty of anything. I would stay in my teaching job but I left because I wanted to do something else. Now I am writing verses and going to make them into songs,” says Avagyan.

Sukhudyan continues to stand by her claims and accuses the school headmaster of lying. The young environmental activist links the criminal case against her with her and her nongovernmental organization’s opposition to the development of a large copper and molybdenum field in the Lori province that conservationists in Armenia say will cause irreparable damage to the rich forests of Teghut.

“This way, they simply want to obstruct my civil activity, mainly in the environmental sphere,” she says.

Friend and fellow activist Ovsanna Hovsepyan believes that Sukhudyan is prosecuted “because she always exposes government wrongdoing.”

Different rights groups have condemned the case and voiced their support for Sukhudyan. They have organized protests in support of the civic activist and have already issued several statements through blogs and other media.

Environmental organizations plan to send a joint letter to Armenia’s president, parliament speaker, prime minister, prosecutor-general and ombudsman on Sukhudyan’s fate. They planned another protest later on Tuesday, this time near the Ministry of Education and Science.