Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Death In The Ranks: Army Says Lieutenant Killed Himself, Family Says

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Death In The Ranks: Army Says Lieutenant Killed Himself, Family Says

    DEATH IN THE RANKS: ARMY SAYS LIEUTENANT KILLED HIMSELF, FAMILY SAYS MURDER
    Gayane Abrahamyan

    ArmeniaNow reporter
    29.07.10

    Thirty-one-year-old Nazaryan died in the military unit under
    questionable circumstances

    A 31-year old lieutenant has become the latest Armenian soldier to
    die under questionable circumstances while serving in a combat post.

    Artak Nazaryan died Tuesday at his base in the Tavush province. The
    Ministry of Defense says Nazaryan - who joined the army for contract
    service eight months ago - used a machine gun to commit suicide.

    His family, however, says the MOD is lying.

    According to Nazaryan's mother, forensic investigation found traces
    of violence from a blunt instrument on her son's body.

    "A few days ago, when I talked to him, I felt that he was very worried
    about something, he was confused. It is an evident murder case. My
    son was killed in the morning, and we were informed about it only at
    5 p.m. It means that they were trying to clean the murder traces by
    then," says Nazaryan's mother Hasmik Hovhannisyan.

    Nazaryan's friends say that he was a very even tempered and quiet
    person, who could have never commit suicide, moreover he was not a
    simple conscript - he was a commander.

    Nazaryan served as a conscript in 2000-2001, but later, because he
    was a specialist of oriental studies and fluent in Persian, he served
    one year in Tehran, Iran, as an ambassador attache, translator.

    Human rights defender Arthur Sakunts, Head of Helsinki Citizens'
    Assembly Vanadzor Office, says that it was an evident murder case.

    "This is a horrible tragedy, which at the same time registers another
    terrible tendency that not only conscripts but also officers and
    commanders are being subject to violence and killed in army during
    the recent two-three years," Sakunts told ArmeniaNow. According to
    official data, this is the first death registered in the army this
    year attributed to non-military actions. Over the years, however,
    Armenia's army has had dozens of cases of soldier-on-soldier violence
    and officer-to-conscript violence that resulted in death.




    From: A. Papazian
Working...
X