Murders and suicides plague the Armenian army

Parents of Armenian soldiers killed recently in non-combat conditions are demanding the Pashinyan government to restore order in the Armenian army.

Caliber.Az reports with reference to Epress.am, on August 10 enlisted soldier Zhora Karapetyan died of a gunshot wound in the Zod military unit in the Ararat region (Develi - Ed.), and in the morning of August 11 enlisted soldier Hranik Hnkoyan was killed in the same unit. The Investigative Committee claims that the soldiers committed suicide. Fellow soldiers were detained for "incitement to suicide" in one case, in another — a superior officer who humiliated, insulted and beat a soldier in front of the personnel. However, the parents of the victims do not believe in the version of suicide. They are sure that their sons were killed.

Eighteen-year-old Zhora Karapetyan had served 7 months at the time of his death. He died in combat positions. The official version is suicide. His father and uncle exclude it.

"He didn't have a gun in his hands to put and shoot himself. The machine gun is long, how would he put it to his forehead?", father Janibek Karapetyan told Forrights.am.

An uncle, Artsrun Karapetyan, presented a version relayed to him from the military unit: "There were two shots in the forehead. Certain Bakhshik says he shot Zhora in the forehead but didn't die, then he got up and shot again. Now Bakhshik is in prison, he is a soldier, and he served with Zhora."

Bakhshik is one of the soldiers who, according to the Investigative Committee, together with the officer drove Zhora to suicide. According to the soldier's uncle, contradictory rumours have been circulating in the unit since the incident.

According to Artsrun Karapetyan, if the so-called Defence Minister Papikyan, instead of smiling cynically, would control the officer corps and see what is happening...

"Half of the troops die in peaceful conditions," he says.

According to human rights activist Zhanna Aleksanyan, Zhora was subjected to violence before his death: "In the morgue, Zhora's relatives noticed signs of violence on different parts of his body - bruises, abrasions. Hranik Hnkoyan, a serviceman of the same unit, had been subjected to violence before his death, several hours apart. Both deaths were qualified by the Investigative Committee as suicide. Zhora died from two shots in the head from an automatic rifle. In the case of Hranik, two shots in the face area. These are clear murders," the human rights activist wrote.

On August 11, conscript Hranik Hnkoyan, according to the IC, committed suicide because the deputy commander of the rifle battalion, chief of staff of the military unit, Major A.T. "publicly committed actions against military honour and dignity, using violence against Hnkoyan in the presence of fellow soldiers". The officer has been arrested.

"This is murder. Who killed? The chief of staff and the battalion commander," Forrights quoted the soldier's father Vardan Hnkoyan as saying.

The day before and on the day of his death, there was an incident involving high-ranking military officers of the military unit. Hnkoyan told his brother and other relatives about it.

"He said - the battalion commander hit me, and I pushed him, I was beaten - and the phone went off," the father said.

The serviceman's body bore marks of violence.

The Hnkoyans were also upset by the attitude of officials. At first, the family was told that Hranik would be given a military funeral, but then they refused since "suicides are not entitled".

"They killed my child and labelled him a suicide... Without conducting an investigation, they say it was suicide," said the father of the dead soldier.