Arshak Karapetyan appointed as first deputy chief of Armenian army staff

YEREVAN, April 13. /ARKA/. The Armenian government said today that Arshak Karapetyan is considered to be appointed to the post of First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces by the virtue of law.

In a statement the government said that "guided by the provisions of the Constitution and the Law On Military Service and the Status of Serviceman, the Prime Minister submitted a proposal to the President on April 7 to appoint Arshak Karapetyan as First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces."

Arshak Karapetyan is considered to be appointed to the position by virtue of law because the President did not sign the proposal and did not return it with his objections.

Major General Arshak Karapetyan previously served as Chief of the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, but was dismissed by ex-president Serzh Sargsyan on April 26, 2016 after the four-day April war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan dismissed Arshak Karapetyan on April 6, 2021 as his advisor. Karapetyan was appiointed to that post in December 2018 after testifying against ex-Armenian president Robert Kocharyan and other defendants in the March 1, 2008 case.

The former First Deputy Chief of the General Staff Tiran Khachatrian was dismissed in February this year after laughing off Pashinyan's claim that only 10% of Russia-supplied Iskander missiles that Armenia used in the conflict exploded.

The Administrative Court of Armenia is considering now Tiran Khachatryan's lawsuit against the Minister of Defense. He demands to be reinstated in the position of the First Deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. --0--