Armenian News - NEWS.am presents daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 08.08.2019:

·       A military serviceman of Armenia was found hanged on Thursday, wrote Artsrun Hovhannisyan, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense (MOD), on his Facebook.

Hovhannisyan noted that the hanged body of junior officer Samvel Mezhlumyan, a serviceman of the military band of a military unit, was found in the Armenian town of Gyumri.

The soldier reportedly hanged from a tree by a rope.

·       The Armenian government on Thursday approved its draft decision confirming the type and amount of assistance to be provided to persons affected by the March 1 and 2, 2008 events, when eight demonstrators, as well as two servicemen of the internal troops, were killed in the clashes as the then authorities of Armenia used force against the opposition members rallying in Yerevan.

And as form of respective monetary aid, the following are specified: 30,000,000 drams to a person having the status of legal successor to a person killed—dead—as a result of injury; 15,000,000 drams to a person who has suffered serious damage to health; and 5,000,000 drams to a person who has suffered moderate damage to health.

“The amounts set by this decision don’t in any way mean compensation,” Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan said.

·       A draft decision on free or preferential access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART) was approved during the Armenian government’s meeting on Thursday.

Infertile couples who have clear medical indicators, couples where one or both spouses are military personnel or are equated with military personnel, representatives of socially vulnerable layers, residents of border communities receiving additional social aid; parents who have lost their son during or after military service under appropriate circumstances may take an advantage of the program.

To sign up, one of the spouses must have Armenian citizenship, and their marriage must be registered in the manner prescribed by law.

·       The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has received the petition from the Constitutional Court (CC) of Armenia for advisory opinion on cases heard by the CC, and on the basis of the respective requests by the capital city Yerevan Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction and ex-President Robert Kocharyan.

The ECHR has acknowledged the receipt of this petition and, also, has indicated that it shall be considered as a matter of priority.

·       Sona Aghekyan, a former member of the Yerevan Council of Elders, on Thursday was staging a protest with her supporters, outside Yerevan Municipality. They demand to resolve the problem of garbage disposal in the capital city of Armenia.

Subsequently, a dispute broke out between these demonstrators and the city hall’s cleanup personnel, after which police detained them.

The situation became more intense when Aghekyan approached the municipality building holding a broom in one hand and a woman’s clothing in the other and stated that if the mayor of Yerevan did not fulfill his pre-election promises, they will force him to wear this woman’s clothing and walk around the city with it.