"Unfortunately, a country like Armenia, where the government is unable to restrain such astounding unlawfulness, has no future".

Armine Philipian (Pavia, Italy)

Marco Lionello, your wife Armine and H. Hovhannissian

The author of these lines is Armine Philipian, the wife of an Italian doctor, Marco Lionello. These citizens of Italy have for several years now found themselves in a maze in Armenia and there seems to be no way out. The Economic Disputes Tribunal of the Republic of Armenia is doing everything in its power to quickly complete the process of depriving Marco Lionello of his property - a store located at 4 Vardanants Street. The judges can't even imagine that Lionello, who has already prepared all the necessary documents to appeal to the European court, will prevail and that the government of Armenia will be obliged to pay large amounts of money. They can't yet imagine that their unlawful verdicts will burst, and, in the end they will be forced to retire for causing not only material but also moral damage to the state. "We are prepared to donate this store to anybody, even to the state. We are disappointed in Armenia and feel insulted. But we will do our utmost to prevent Hasmik Hovhannissian from becoming the owner of the store", said Armine Philipian during a telephone conversation. Lionello's representative, lawyer Hakob Andreassian says, "Judge Matevosian is interested in carrying out his groundless verdict and favors the other side. He wants Hasmik Hovhannissian to become the proprietor of the store located at 4 Vardanants Street. Mr. Lionello appealed to the Economic Disputes Tribunal of the Republic of Armenia to defer the execution of the verdict because the Hovhannissians committed felonious acts that deserve criminal prosecution". Under various pretexts, the court has not accepted for consideration either Lionello's or his representative's appeals, because in accordance with Article 22, point 2 of the Law on the Obligatory Execution of Writs, the court is obliged after receiving an appeal from one of the parties to reverse the execution of the court order. But Judge Matevosian must quickly finalize the deal of "ripping off" the Italians.

Marco Lionello and his wife Armine Philipian met Hasmik Hovhannissian in 1996 in the Italian city of Pavia. "Our friends told us that there was a student from Armenia, come and make her acquaintance. And we gladly went. She was in a strained financial situation. Her worn out shoes struck me first. And I told my husband that we must help her. We took her to our house. She became a family member. Wherever we went we took her with us. That was when, after we talked it over, my husband and I decided to open a store in Yerevan. And Hasmik would be our representative", recalls Philipian.

In Yerevan, Lionello purchased the 160 square-meter premises at the address 4 Vardanants Street and converted it into a store. He authorized Hasmik Hovhannissian to manage the store. From 1996 to 1999, Lionello sent to Armenia goods worth $250,000 and about $100,000 in cash. He has kept all the documents. When Lionello asked Hasmik Hovanissian to send money for the goods sold in order to continue sending goods she began to make up different stories.

The Italian decided to decline Hovhannissian's services. She then went to court and presented documents alleging that the store was her property. But during the court proceedings, Hovhannissian abandoned her statement of claim. And now her father Telman Hovannissian has appealed to the court claiming that in accordance with a contract signed with Hasmik Hovhanissian in 1996, he undertook the job of repair work in the store at 4 Vardanants street at his own expense, on the condition that Marco Lionello, the proprietor of the store, would reimburse him for the cost of the work performed on August 12 1999. Telman Hovhannissian also informed the court that in order to meet the obligations of this contract, on June 3, 1996 he signed a sub-contract with the Gandzasar small enterprise in the amount of AMD 7,744,000. Over the course of time new construction work was done for which plaintiff Telman Hovhannissian spent a total of AMD 8 million. Because of the defendant's failure to carry out his obligations on time, and the devaluation of the Armenian Dram, the plaintiff suffered additional losses of AMD 3,163,000. As a result, the plaintiff asked the court to recover from the defendant AMD 11,908,000. The court granted Telman Hovannissian's appeal. The Civil and Economic Chamber of the Court of Appeal left the decision of the Economic Disputes Tribunal in force. The court decided to put the Vardanants Street store up for auction in order to seize this amount from Lionello. The mandatory executors will put the store up for auction on October 8, 2002 to return the money to Telman Hovhannissian. In reality, Hasmik Hovhannissian hopes to take possession of the store in this way.

The lawyer deceived the Italians as well

The Italian citizens are disappointed because they were also deceived by their representative, Armen Ter-Tachatian, who had defended their interests in court since January 2001. "For eight months Armen Ter-Tachatian lied to us, alleging that we had won the suit for $49,000 in damages", says Philipian. " Marco was the first to realize that Armen was working for the other side. We paid Armen Ter-Tachatian $24,800 between October 1999 and last summer. But later it became clear that he had deceived us. Hasmik destroyed all the documents on the goods sent in 1998-1999. I don't know, perhaps the tax department doesn't have these documents, or perhaps they did not register these goods, but we have all the papers on what we sent. We have also obtained documents proving that the goods entered Armenia. This means that Hasmik sold the products in the store without registration to avoid paying taxes and other dues to customs and tax authorities. We appealed to the Office of the Prosecutor to bring a suit against her. I am outraged by the justice system in Armenia. However, I will defend my interests outside your country. The justice there is not Armenian." Philipian.

Counterfeited documents as the base for the verdict

According to documents presented to court, the repair work was performed by the Gandzakar - 1 small enterprise and by private entrepreneur Samvel Mkrtchian. Gandzakar - 1 is not registered at the State Registry. Entrepreneur Samvel Mkrtchian is not registered either. Someone forged these documents. The court's task is to clear up this question as well. If the business is not registered at the State Registry, how did the court arrive at a verdict that hinged on these documents? The fact that Marco Lionello paid the money for the repair work is confirmed by Hasmik Hovhannissian's handwritten letters to Marco Lionello and by payment orders (statements) of the Midland Armenia bank.

There is something else that proves that that Hasmik Hovhannissian is capable of forgery. We have in our possession a letter from Artavazd Serapian, chairman of the Stefano Serapian Fund (the fund renders assistance to the poor and to beggars). Attached to the letter is a certificate stating that the Fund twice rendered assistance to Hasmik Hovhannissian, born in Leninakan, in accordance with her written request. The first time in 1996 in sum of 1,200,000 Italian Liras, the second time - 2,800,000 Italian Liras. In her written request Hovannissian asked for assistance as a resident of Leninakan and a victim of the 1988 earthquake. We must point out that Hasmik Hovhanissian was born in the village of Teghenik in the Kotayk marz. Her place of residence is Yerevan.

To be continued.