On March 10 the US Ambassador Mary Jovanovich will award civil activist Mariam Sukhudyan with a medal of "Brave Woman". The ceremony will take place at the US embassy in Armenia. Mariam Sukhudyan is an activist of the Armenian nature protection; in particular, she participated in the movement in defense of Teghut forests.

Mariam became well known after presenting to the public the terrible situation in the special school No. 11 in Nubarashen. Armenian law enforcement agencies charged Mariam first with the "slander" and then with the "calumny" articles when she voiced about sexual encroachments of one of the teachers towards pupils.

The criminal case against Sukhudyan is still in process.

Mariam had participated in a volunteer program implemented in that school by the UN Armenia office and together with other members of the group had raised alarm about the situation in the school - bad food, defective education, anti-sanitary conditions as well as teachers' encroachments against students.