A while ago, Deputy Director of the Republican Center for AIDS Prevention Aram Hakobyan was released from the police station in Nor Nork Administrative District after he was apprehended from the hospital earlier this evening.

The Center’s employees had gathered in front of the police station to express their support to the deputy director, and among the people in the crowd was deputy of the My Step faction of the National Assembly Narek Zeynalyan, who told reporters that the reason why the deputy director was apprehended was because he had refused to transfer the seal of the Center to the newly appointed director.

Touching upon the fact that the healthcare minister has dismissed the ex-director while the former is on temporary incapacity leave, which the minister didn’t have the right to do, Zeynalyan said the following: “I’m not familiar with the documents and other details, but if a person is on temporary incapacity leave, no official has the right to dismiss the person.”

Narek Zeynalyan avoided answering the question about how the dismissal of the director is linked to the minister’s other decision to merge the Republican Center for AIDS Prevention and Nork Infection Clinical Hospital (the employees of the Center are against the merger).

The deputy director had refused to transfer the seal and other documents of the Center and the keys to the director’s office to the newly appointed and acting director.

Today, on its Facebook page, the Republican Center for AIDS Prevention of the Ministry of Justice of Armenia stated that Director of the Republican Center for AIDS Prevention Samvel Grigoryan was dismissed on February 25 under the order of Minister of Healthcare Arsen Torosyan, and Artur Berberyan was appointed acting director of the Center by another order.