Armenian soldiers' mothers again protest

By Azernews

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Mothers of Armenian soldiers who died in non-combat conditions have once again gathered to protest in front of the administrative building of the Armenian government.

The women were holding portraits of their deceased sons and demanded fair investigation of their cases from the government. Some of the cases are already more than 10 years old.

The mothers protested against the new Armenian authorities, who did not advance a single step in a fair investigation of the deaths of their sons, who were declared to die because of “suicides” or “illnesses”.

Earlier, the post-revolutionary authorities promised that the cases of Valery Muradyan, Tigran Ohanjanyan, Arman Hakobyan, Andranik Silakyan, Arthur Ghazaryan and many other soldiers’ deaths in non-combat conditions would be reviewed.

After coming to power, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with the parents of the servicemen, who died in non-combat conditions, and promised to monitor the progress of the investigation processes. The soldiers’ mothers waited long for the fulfillment of the promise, but seeing no progress, they again came to the government building to protest.

The mother of Arthur Ghazaryan, who, according to the official version, died of a brain tumor, told reporters that the experts, who were supposed to investigate the case, were not even familiar with the materials of the case.

Meanwhile, the investigation on the case of violence against a soldier in the Armenian armed forces’ military unit in the occupied Agdere city of Azerbaijan has stalled. The last court session was held in November 2018 and no new meetings were scheduled.

The scandal erupted in January 2018, when the soldier’s mother arrived at the military unit in occupied Agdere for the ceremony of the oath of her son. The son told his mother that the commander regularly beat him. In addition, the soldier was charged with treason. After several months of detention in the military police and psychological pressure on him, the soldier was forced to write a fake confession.

In early October 2018, the court annulled the preventive measure in the form of the soldier’s arrest. He was transported to another military unit, and from there to the hospital for health reasons. Since the soldier constantly complained of pain in his heart, he underwent an X-ray examination, which showed a broken rib.

Thus, all this shows that the relations between military personnel, between commanders and subordinates in the Armenian armed forces are based on hazing. That is why it is not surprising that on August 12, fleeing from bullying and inhuman treatment by fellow soldiers, the Armenian soldier Araik Ghazaryan defected to the Azerbaijani side. Armenian experts themselves say that if the situation in the Armenian armed forces does not change, the number of deserters in Armenia will only grow.