Epress.am News from Armenia
Parents of soldiers killed during peacetime were again demonstrating outside the Armenian government building today, protesting that the official cause of death is being cited as suicide when in reality their sons were murdered.
Reporters raised this issue with Armenian Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan as he was leaving the building following the government meeting held every Thursday.
“Using information from our commanders, assistance from all levels of society, proposals by NGOs… the army’s commandership today is the body which best possesses knowledge of what happens in the army and how to fight against it. These evaluations include legal facts and each assessment is the result of preliminary investigation, preliminary data, which can be changed this or that way during criminal proceedings,” he said.
In the defense minister’s opinion, RA Military Prosecutor Gevorg Kostanyan is doing a normal job, and it is he who is the most interested that the defense ministry gets all the information.
“We work jointly because correctly solving such cases will help strengthen discipline,” he said.
Note, as he was leaving, Ohanyan spoke with Hasmik Hovhannisyan, mother of rifle platoon commander Artak Nazaryan who died suddenly in July 2010 while serving in the military during peacetime, and publicly promised to meet with her in a few days.