Another Death in Armenian Army. Official Cause of Death: Suicide

The Armenian defense ministry’s press office reports that at 10:40 am on Oct. 9, in one of the military units in Nagorno-Karabakh along the northeastern border, Armenian conscript Vladimir Asatryan, 19, who was on guard duty, shot himself with his AKM assault rifle. The ministry reports that the details regarding the incident are currently being confirmed and an investigation is underway.

Note, in the last year or so there have been several high-profile incidents of non-combat deaths in Armenia’s Armed Forces, some of which initially were deemed to be suicides. In these cases, relatives of the deceased soldier have insisted that it was not suicide but murder. One such notable incident is the case of Artak Nazaryan, 30, commander of a rifle platoon and head of a military base in Tavush, who died suddenly on Jul. 27, 2010.