Armenia Defense Ministry Knew About Youth Who Went Mad in Army: Human Rights Defenders

Armenia’s defense ministry knew about Hovhannes Vardanyan, the 19-year-old conscript who until recently was serving in the Askeran military unit in Nagorno-Karabakh, going mad, but did not go public with this information, according to an Aug. 31 letter sent by the Helsinki Association for Human Rights to the defense ministry and supplied to Epress.am.

 

In the letter, Helsinki Association President Mikhail Danielyan outlines the incident details, noting that Vardanyan underwent a medical examination on Aug. 3, 2011, and, in accordance with RA Ministry of Defense order no. 175, was recognized as unfit for military service.

 

Danielyan notes that Vardanyan is in the psychiatric clinic in Yerevan’s Nork district and the defense ministry has yet to give a clear answer as to reason for Vardanyan being in the state he’s in.

 

The Armenia-based NGO asked the defense minister to entrust the proper agencies to conduct an investigation into the information relayed by Hovhannes Vardanyan’s father, Vardan Vardanyan, to uncover those guilty and hold them accountable.