76 Soldiers Died in Armenia and Karabakh Armies in 2015: Report

In 2015, 76 soldiers died in 58 incidents recorded in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Defense Army, the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office (HCAV) said in a report issued on January 9. 

“Besides the above mentioned, there were other 4 deaths of Armenian soldiers registered [in 2015], two of whom were servicemen of the Russian troops in Armenia, one – a soldier of Armenia’s Armed Forces who, according to the Defense Ministry, had been sent to the reserve. [The forth death] was unrelated to military service (the military commissar of the town of Berd in Armenia's Tavush province was killed by an intoxicated villager).”

To compare, the human rights organization stresses that 45 deaths had occurred in 2014 as a result of 41 incidents. 

Based on the findings of HCAV's study, 41 of the 76 deaths occurred due to ceasefire violations, 3 of the deaths were homicides (1 intentional murder; 2 cases of violations of firearm regulations), one soldier died due to violation of combat duty or service rules, 6 – suicides or suicide incitements (according to criminal case assessment);  21 deaths were accidents, 4 deaths were caused by health issues and non-proper medical care. 

34 of the 41 deaths caused by ceasefire violations, as stated in the report, occurred on the territory of NKR, 7 – in Armenia.