The executive director of an Armenian state hospital was sacked on Wednesday days after signaling support for ongoing antigovernment protests in Yerevan.
Samvel Danielyan, who has run the Yolian Center for Hematology since 2019, reportedly approached and hugged the protest leader, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, during one of the demonstrations aimed at forcing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign. Danielyan has served in acting capacity for the last eight months under a temporary contract with the Armenian Ministry of Health that was due to run out on June 7.
Health Minister Anahit Avanesian announced her decision to fire Danielian on Wednesday. Her spokeswoman refused to give any reason for the dismissal.
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, Danielyan would not say whether he thinks his political views cost him his position. He said he will comment on his sacking “in detail” soon.
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Meanwhile, the head of the Yerevan-based hospital’s division treating children suffering from blood cancer, Gevorg Tamamyan, tendered his resignation in a show of solidarity with Danielyan. Tamamyan said that his boss was fired because of greeting the outspoken archbishop.
“Naturally, that caused upheavals within our supreme leadership, and I suppose that the health minister was afterwards ordered to very urgently solve that issue,” he said in a Facebook video message.
Galstanyan also condemned the minister’s decision, saying that the acclaimed doctor lost his job “because of being close to us.” “They decided to punish him,” the protest leader told reporters.
