Rising casualties and crime cast shadow over Armenian military

The Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office has released a report detailing the number and causes of servicemen’s deaths in the Armenian Armed Forces for 2024. 

According to Armenian media, cited by Caliber.Az, the report highlights various fatal incidents, including service-related deaths, suicides, accidents, and crimes. 

In 2024, a total of 40 servicemen in the Armenian Armed Forces lost their lives, with 27 of them dying due to service-related circumstances.

Of these, four servicemen, identified as members of the "Yerkrapah" (terrorist organization - ed.), were killed in clashes with the Azerbaijani Army. Additionally, five servicemen were victims of murder, including one "Yerkrapah" member. 

Other causes of death included one fatality in a fire during a training camp, seven cases of suicide or deaths driven by suicide, four road accident fatalities, one death due to a violation of combat vehicle operation rules, two aviation-related accidents, three deaths due to illness, and one accidental death.

Meanwhile, 13 deaths were unrelated to military service: three due to illness, seven from traffic accidents, one from suicide, and two from accidents.

The report further detailed that 2,093 incidents were registered within the Armenian Armed Forces in 2024. These included 762 accidents and 1,331 reported crimes, of which 715 were categorized as war crimes and 616 as other offences. Among these, 178 were classified as grave crimes, and 39 were especially grave crimes.

By Tamilla Hasanova