The bill involves amendments to an Armenian law that obligates citizens to sell their land and/or houses to construction companies implementing redevelopment projects where the government sees “overriding public interests.” The law currently allows courts to suspend such takeovers in cases where property owners object to supposedly market-based prices set by a government agency.
The initial version of the bill put forward early this year would strip the courts of this authority. The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe concluded afterwards that this would run counter to the Armenian constitution.
The Justice Ministry responded by watering down the controversial amendment. It currently stipulates that judges can halt de facto property seizures only in “exceptional cases.”
Davit Asatrian, a lawyer specializing in such property disputes, downplayed the change, saying that few judges would dare to deem relevant cases brought before them “exceptional.”
Asatrian was even more concerned about another amendment stipulating that citizens “obstructing” the seizure of their properties will be forced to sell them without court rulings and at prices single-handedly determined by developers.
“The state says that if you prevent the developer from entering your property, they can set an average price for you and you can no longer go to the courts or anywhere else to dispute that,” Asatrian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The Venice Commission similarly pointed out that the bill does clearly define what can constitute such “obstruction.”
Armenia’s former governments had already facilitated effective property seizures to pave the way for demolitions of old parts of central Yerevan that began over two decades ago. The process sparked angry protests by some of the displaced people who claimed to have not been properly compensated by the state. It was strongly criticized by government critics, including Nikol Pashinian and his Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper.
The Justice Ministry says that the amendments drafted by it will help the authorities prevent such disputes and better regulate the sector. Asatrian insisted, however, that they would only enable developers to “quickly deprive residents of their property and launch construction there.”