Media: Armenian colonel flees battlefield during 44-day war in 2020

Colonel Manuk Badalyan who escaped from the battlefield during the 44-day war is on trial in Armenia.

The Armenian media outlets write about this with reference to the Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia, Caliber.Az reports.

“According to information received from the Armenian Prosecutor’s Office, it became known that on October 3, 2020, the deputy commander of the 18th Infantry Division (military unit 42009) of the Armenian Armed Forces, Colonel Manuk Badalyan, applied to the Mekhakavan military hospital in the village of Tug, Hadrut region, with a statement about an injury to the right knee joint. Manuk Badalyan only had swelling in the area of his right knee joint, and a brace was installed to limit the mobility of the joint.

Despite this, Colonel Manuk Badalyan received instructions from the high command to continue performing his official duties, in particular, to carry out moral and psychological work with personnel in the city of Hadrut. Realizing that it was impossible to stop military service for health reasons, Manuk Badalyan, in order to create the illusion of injury during combat operations, repeatedly treated the swollen part of the right knee joint with iodine, wrapped it with a bandage thickly soaked in the same liquid, causing a 2nd degree burn on the right knee joint.

On October 10, 2020, between 11:00 and 12:00, during the transfer to the division command post, the vehicle carrying Colonel Manuk Badalyan and his fellow officer was shelled. As a result of the shelling, only the driver received shrapnel wounds. Manuk Badalyan, who was found in the same car and did not receive any bodily injuries, and taking advantage of the fact that no one had information about his condition, told the officers that he was allegedly injured as a result of the shelling. He was thereafter referred to the Hadrut District Medical Unit and was discharged on October 10, 2020.

On September 27, 2023, a public prosecution was filed against Manuk Badalyan for fraudulent suspension of military service or performance of certain duties during martial law. On September 29, 2023, the prosecutor approved the indictment and transferred it to the court of first instance of Syunik (Zangezur - ed.) region along with the proceedings," the report says.