Statistics on Deaths in the RA and NK Armed Forces in 2021
From January to December 2021, Peace Dialogue NGO managed to obtain information on 75 death cases registered in the RA and NK Armed Forces.
During the reporting period, 17 servicemen were killed in a ceasefire violation. 7 servicemen committed suicide. 20 servicemen died from fatal incidents. Health problems caused death for 19 servicemen. 6 servicemen died due to violation of safety rules. 5 servicemen became victims of murder committed by fellow servicemen. 1 soldier died from the explosion of his own grenade.
According to the information provided by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Armenia, in the period from 1 January to 31 December 2021, 32 out of 75 deaths of soldiers and contract servicemen of the RA and NK Armed Forces were registered as not related to military service.
*One of the death cases registered in the record was published by the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor office but was not included in the information provided to Peace Dialogue by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Below, we introduce the numbers of deaths registered in 2021 according to the causes of death. It should be noted that the causes of deaths in this report are based on open source case studies or the information provided by state authorities in response to Peace Dialogue’s inquiries. It is noteworthy that even the information provided by the Prosecutor’s Office in some cases does not clearly indicate the cause of the death. In those cases, the organization presents the cause of the death based on the article of the criminal case initiated on the incident.
Number of deaths registered in 2021 according to the causes of death
Out of 75 registered incidents, 61 took place in the RA Armed Forces and 14 occurred in the NK Armed Forces.
Place of death
In connection with 36 of the above-mentioned incidents, no defense agencies reported an official statement; therefore, the primary information about the incidents was disseminated by NGOs involved in the field as well as persons related to the victims through the media or social networks.
Primary source of information
By comparing the number of deaths registered in the Armed Forces in the last five years, it becomes obvious that the highest number of deaths occurred due to fatal incidents (107 cases), health problems (74 cases), and ceasefire violations (68 cases). It should be noted that deaths due to fatal incidents and health problems are generally mentioned by the Prosecutor’s Office as cases not related to military duty.
The details of the deaths registered in the RA and NK Armed Forces in 2021 are available in the document attached to the article.
Posted 02 February, 2022
