Armenian Defense Minister orders subordinates to take “urgent” measures to tackle poor army discipline
YEREVAN, August 30. /ARKA/. Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan on Tuesday ordered his subordinates to take “urgent” measures to tackle poor army discipline after the latest rise in noncombat deaths in the Armenian army’s ranks.
The Defense Ministry said Papikyan discussed the issue with the Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Edward Asryan, First Deputy Minister of Defense, the Chief of the Military Police Major General Ashot Zakaryan and the commanders of military units.
Papikyan was said to order the commanders of the military units to exert maximum efforts to identify all possible problems that arise during the service leading to undesirable consequences and accidents and eliminate the ‘vicious patterns’.
On July 26, the body of serviceman Murad Grigoryan was found near a dugout at a combat position of a military unit with a gunshot wound in the head. A machine gun attached to him was found on the ground next to him. The investigation found out that Murad Grigoryan was shot and killed by a fellow serviceman following an altercation.
On August 10, serviceman Zhora Karapetyan received a gunshot wound incompatible with life under unclear circumstances. The next day, two of Karapetyan's fellow servicemen were detained on suspicion of driving Karapetyan to suicide.
On August 11, the body of Private Granik Khnkoyan with a gunshot wound in the head was found behind the parking lot of a military unit. The investigation found out that Khnkoyan killed himself after the deputy commander of the battalion humiliated his dignity, using violence in the presence of his fellow servicemen.
On August 27, a serviceman identified as A.A. inflicted a fatal gunshot wound on the officer and a serviceman A.Kh., from the AK-74 assault rifle and then killed himself.
According to human rights activists, monitoring the armed forces, as many as 54 soldiers died in the first half of this year, and only a dozen of them were killed by enemy fire. -0
