After exhausting Armenian courts for the case of his brother’s death, Onik Manucharyan, the brother and successor of soldier Manuchar Manucharyan who died on 31 July 2013 in the RA MoD Military Unit N24923 (with the official version of suicide), filed a lawsuit to the European Court of Human Rights.

Lawyer Mushegh Shushanyan’s claim states that according to the applicant, “the respondent government did not fulfill its responsibility of the protection of Manucharyan’s life in the territory of the military unit under its exclusive control, and subsequently did not fulfill its responsibility to conduct an effective investigation into the death of his brother in order to prosecute the perpetrators.”

It should be reminded that lawyer Mushegh Shushanyan and representative of the victim’s successor, expert of Peace Dialogue NGO Ruben Martirosyan found a number of violations in the phases of the preliminary investigation and trial on Manucharyan’s case. Particularly, no fingerprints sufficient for further comparative analysis and identification were found on the AKS N1119879, allegedly the weapon of suicide, and the magazine attached to the machine gun. This indicates that the fingerprints were deliberately destroyed by an undisclosed person. No investigation has been carried out on this fact, and the courts have not given any official statement since it would contradict the false hypothesis of suicide. The court testimonies of A. Abrahamyan and A. Sahakyan on the fact that their preliminary testimonies were incompatible with the reality and had been subjected to coercion, were not properly assessed by the courts and were not taken as a basis.

No investigation has properly been conducted on the various injuries revealed on M. Manucharyan’s body (caused posthumously and shortly before the death) by the preliminary investigation body to determine the details of their origin or the persons who caused the injuries; The Court of First Instance did not give any assessment to this fact.

A 5 mm diameter hole, typical of that caused by a gunshot, was revealed on the back of the right leg of Manucharyan’s trousers (from the clothing examination protocol: “The left leg of the military trousers up to the knee part is soaked in a blood-like substance; on the right leg of the trousers approximately 3.5 cm above the side pockets there is a round (half-moon shaped) hole with a diameter of 1.5×1 and with undone edges. At the back of the right foot of the trousers on the level of the knee, there is an absorbed stain with the size of 10×25 cm above which there is a round-shaped 5 mm hole the edges of which have traces of burn”); however, according to the conclusions of forensic experts (“Conclusions”), no gunshot damages were detected on the victim’s military trousers.

In 2016 during the trial, the examination of M. Manucharyan’s military trousers revealed the 5 mm diameter gunshot hole with burnt edges, described in the 2013 protocol on the examination of the clothing but the court judge expert, A. Hambardzumyan stated that that during the examination of Manucharyan’s clothes, no gunshot wounds had been found by him.

Rising from the fact that the exit trace of the supposed bullet was not found on any other part of the trousers, the aggrieved party expressed the conviction that the bullet remained in the victim’s right leg and the circumstances may be determined by means of exhumation. However, the court rejected the mediations for assigning a double forensic examination of the trousers and the exhumation of the body.

The Criminal Court of Appeal rejected the applicant’s complaint in 2018, without referring to the arguments included in the appeal, but pointing out that they were groundless and were denied by the evidence obtained in the course of the case; the Court of Cassation refused to take the case at all.

P.S. On April 3 of the current year, the aggrieved party received a confirmation from the HRD stating that the Court Secretariat received the application and initiated a proceeding. “The court will investigate the case at the earliest opportunity”, has been stated in the Court Secretary’s reply.

Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction today satisfied the complaint of the legal successor of Arman Muradyan – the soldier who was killed as a result of a mortal gunshot wound back in 2013 – obliging the preliminary investigation body to withdraw the decision of refusing to initiate a criminal case and to conduct an investigation.

 On 30 July 2013, in the protection area of one of the NK military units located in the north-eastern direction of the NK-Azerbaijani borderline, soldier Arman Muradyan (born in 1993) received a mortal gunshot wound. At the end of last year, the soldier’s father and legal successor Hovsep Muradyan applied to the Peace Dialogue NGO with the request of receiving legal support in the course of the investigation of his son’s death.

A 42-year-old deputy commander of the Military Unit, Emil Avetisyan, was charged in the frames of the criminal case initiated as per Article 110 Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code (driving a person to suicide). The latter’s guilt was confirmed by the preliminary investigation and trial of the initiated criminal case.

The aggrieved party does not agree with the legal acts established in the scope of the investigation and has filed a complaint to the RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, by the order of whom the RA Military Prosecutor’s Office has reinitiated the examination of the case materials. As a result, it was revealed that investigator D. Igityan and S. Tamazyan made a number of violations in the course of the preliminary investigation of the case. Based on the aforementioned, the Military Prosecutor’s office had filed a petition to the RA Special Investigative Service with the request of giving a legal and criminal evaluation to the investigators’ actions and prepare materials. On 18 November 2018, however, S. Avetisyan, an investigator of the Special Investigative Service, had decided to reject the petition to initiate a criminal case. The aggrieved party appealed the decision to the RA Prosecutor General. The appeal was also rejected by the decision of the Chief for the investigation of particularly important cases of the RA Prosecutor General’s Office.

On 10 January 2019, the aggrieved party appealed the decision of refusing to reinitiate a criminal case by court order. According to the aggrieved party, the violations presented by the Military Prosecutor’s office only comprise a small part of the violations made in the course of the case investigation. Today’s hearing on the decision appeal was also attended by investigator S. Avetisyan, who presented his standpoint on the appeal and brought counter-arguments.

It is noteworthy that investigator Avetisyan gave his own qualifications to investigators’ illegal actions: according to him, D. Igityan and S. Tamazyan had no interest whatsoever in committing a deliberate crime; and attributed the facts presented by the aggrieved party and later by the Military Prosecutor’s Office to their negligence.

In response to the aforementioned, the legal representative of the victim’s successor, PD expert R. Martirosyan presented his objections. According to him, it was necessary that the investigator examines the case fully which implies getting acquainted with the appeal filed by the aggrieved party years ago, which reveals the intentional qualification of murder into a suicide, as a result of which the murderer/murderers have so far avoided punishment. R. Martirosyan agreed with investigator Avetisyan, stating that it is impossible to determine whether or not there has been any intention in the investigators’ actions by means of investigating separate episodes. The separate examination of case episodes would not make it possible to reveal the logical connection between the investigators’ actions and the obtained false proofs. The whole picture may be revealed only by means of a comprehensive and overarching investigation.

Taking into consideration the arguments of the aggrieved party and considering them as satisfactory, the court decided to satisfy the appeal and obliged the preliminary investigation body to withdraw the decision on refusing to initiate a criminal case and reinitiate an investigation.

According to R. Martirosyan, the legal representative of the victim’s successor, the aforementioned court decision gives hope that the courts are gradually discarding the impact of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Investigative Committee and are making an attempt to operate independently.

Peace Dialogue NGO managed to collect data on forty-five (45) cases of fatalities in the Armenian Armed Forces from the RA MoD and NK DA official messages and other open sources. Twenty-two (22) of the mentioned cases took place is the RA, and twenty-three (23) of them – in NK.

Seven (7) of the fatalities are cases of ceasefire regime violation, two (2) are cases of murder, nineteen (19) are cases of fatal incidents, nine (9) of them are cases of suicide, three (3) cases were the result of negligence, two (2) result from health issues, and the causes of three (3) cases have not been revealed yet.

The fatality cases according to their causes are presented below.

Violation of ceasefire regime

Vache Chilingaryan(7 January, NK)

The press service of the NK MoD reported that on January 7,2018 at approximately 1:30 NK DA soldier Vache Chilingaryan (Born in 1998) received a fatal gunshot wound by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces while in a defense area of a military in the northeastern direction of the contact line.

An investigation is underway to determine the details of the incident.

The 19-year old deceased soldier Vache Chilingaryan was from the village of Shorzha, Gharkunik region.

Hayk Kalantaryan  (7 February, NK)

On February 7, 2018, at 1:50 p.m. a compulsory soldier Hayk Kalantaryan was wounded in the head as a result of the enemy’s gunshot in the direction of the N military unit. The soldier was taken to a military hospital where he died at 7:10p.m.

The second garrison investigation department has initiated a criminal case on the basis of national, racial or religious hatred or religious fanaticism. The investigation is underway.

Grigor Yeghoyan (22 February, NK)

On February 22, at around 09:40, in the defense area of one of the NK DA military units situated in the North-Eastern direction of Armenian-Azerbaijani border, a Defense Army serviceman, Grigor Yeghoyan (born in 1998) was deadly wounded as a result of fire from the Azerbaijani side.
He was a resident of Akhuryan village in the region of Akhuryan. Artsruni Igityan, Akhuryan village mayor, noted that Grigor had been drafted to army in July, 2016, and would have been demobilized in 5 months. He was the youngest child in the family after his sister and brother. The family resides in the Russian Federation; Grigor had come to Armenia for serving in the army.
Grigor Yeghoyan was posthumously awarded with the “Combat Service” Medal.

Narek Harutyunyan  (9 April, NK)

On April 9, 2018, at approximately 2:20 p.m., in the protection area of one of the NK DA military units located in the southern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani borderline, a DA soldier, Narek Harutyunyan (born in 1998) died of a mortal gunshot released by the Azerbaijani side.
An investigation is underway to determine the circumstances of the incident.

Vahagn Eloyan (10 June, NK )

On June 10, at approximately 6 p.m., in the protection area of one of the NK DA south-eastern garrisons, a soldier, Vahagn Eloyan, born in 1992, received a deadly gunshot wound released by the adversary army serviceman.
An investigation is underway to determine the details of the incident.

Haykaz Matevosyan(19 September, RA)

On September 19, 2018, at approximately 1:30 p.m., as a result of a shot released from the Azerbaijani side in the direction of the territory of the MoD N Military Unit, contractual military serviceman Haykaz Matevosyan received a mortal gunshot wound in the neck area.
Matevosyan died on the way to the Military Hospital.

Artsakh Hovsepyan (22 September, NK)

On September 19, 2018, at approximately 1:30 p.m., as a result of a shot released from the Azerbaijani side in the direction of the territory of the MoD N Military Unit, contractual military serviceman, Junior Sergeant Haykaz Matevosyan received a mortal gunshot wound in the neck area.
Matevosyan died on the way to the Military Hospital.

The First Garrison Investigative Department has initiated a criminal case on the basis of national, racial or religious hatred or religious fanaticism.

The preliminary investigation is underway.

Murder

Alek Karapetyan (15 April, NK)

On April 15, at approximately 7:15 p.m., soldier Alek Karapetyan (born in 1998) died of a mortal gunshot wound as a result of a fatal incident in one of the NK DA military units.
The urgent investigative actions initiated by the Third Garrison Investigative Department revealed the circumstances of the deadly gunshot wound received by the soldier. A criminal case was filed on the case of the murder.
According to preliminary data, on April 15, 2018, at approximately 7:15 while performing the duty in the watchtower, the soldier Alek Karapetyan received a gunshot wound in the right chest which caused his death on the way to the Military Hospital.
The Garrison Investigation Department filed a criminal case as per Article 104 (Part 1) of the RA Criminal Code. Based on the factual data obtained in the criminal case, the soldier received the wound as a result of a gunshot released by a fellow soldier during an argument between the two.
The investigation revealed the motive of the argument and the identity of the perpetrator, who was arrested later.
An external examination of the corpse, a forensic study and confiscations have been carried out, a number of individuals have been interrogated. The preliminary investigation is underway.

Hovhannes Melkonyan (22 June, RA)

An investigation is underway in the 5th Military Garrison Investigation Division of the General Investigation Department of the RA Investigative Committee to find out the circumstances of the death of a contract soldier, Hovhannes Melkonyan. The Investigative Committee reports about this.
According to preliminary data, the soldier received a mortal gunshot wound in the abdominal are late in the evening of June 22 as a result of a shot in a combat position.
According to the factual data obtained as a result of undertaken measures the shot was released by the deputy commander from the machine gun of another military serviceman in the same military unit.
The 5th Military Garrison Investigation Division of the General Investigation Department has initiated a criminal case as per Article 373 Part 3 of the RA Criminal Code. The deputy commander has been arrested.
The preliminary investigation is underway.

Suicide

Artur Gasparyan(4 May, RA )

An investigation is underway in the 6^th Garrison Investigative Department of the RA Investigative Committee to determine the circumstances of the death of soldier Artur Gasparyan.
On May 4, 2018, at approximately 01:10 a.m., in one of the RA MoD military bases, soldier Artur Gasparyan’s body was found with a mortal gunshot wound in the mouth cavity.
The 6^th Garrison Investigative Department has filed a criminal case on the incident as per Article 110 (Part 1) of the RA Criminal Code.
A forensic medical examination has been carried out; other necessary investigative and procedural actions are taken to determine the circumstances of the soldier’s death.

Levon Torosyan(6 May, RA)

On 6 May, 2018, at approximately 7:25 a.m., in the territory of the military base of “Hakobasar” of the RA MoD Military Unit 21127, the body of Levon Torosyan, soldier at the same military unit, was found with a mortal gunshot wound in his head. The entrance of the wound was in the bottom of the chin and the exit was on the top of the head.

A criminal case has been filed on the hypothesis of driving to suicide, an investigation is underway to determine the circumstances of the incident.

The expert of Peace Dialogue NGO, Ruben Martirosyan, is involved as the representative of the victim’s legal successor. Based on the observation of the case materials, the victim side is convinced that a deliberate murder has been committed. However, already the fourth investigative body involved in the investigation of the case still pursues the investigation with the hypothesis of driving to suicide.

Hamlet Grigoryan(20 May, NK)

On May 20, in the protection area of one of the military units located in the eastern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani borderline, an NK DA soldier Hamlet Grigoryan (born in 1999) received a mortal gunshot wounds under uncertain circumstances. An investigation is underway in the 1^st Garrison Investigation Department to find out the circumstances of the soldier’s death.
According to the RA Investigative Committee, on May 20, 2018, at approximately 11:00 a.m., in the protection area of one of the military units, the body of a soldier Hamlet Grigoryan was found with a penetrating mortal gunshot wound with its entrance under the chin and its exit on the top of the head.
The 1^st Garrison Investigative Department has filed a criminal case as per Article 110 (Part 1) of the RA Criminal Code.
A forensic examination has been appointed, other necessary investigative and procedural actions are taken to determine all the circumstances and verify all the possible hypotheses of the soldier’s death.

Hmayak Hakobyan (26 May, RA)

According to preliminary data, on May 26, at approximately 01:00 p.m. in the bedroom of a Communication Military Unit in Yerevan, Captain Hmayak Hakobyan’s body was found with a penetrating mortal gunshot wound in the chest. A death note was also found on the site of the incident.
The necessary investigative and processual actions are being taken to determine the circumstances of the death of the military serviceman.

Vanik Gevorgyan(2 September, NK)

On September 2, at approximately 9:00 p.m., Vanik Gevorgyan (born in 1996) died in one of the Military Units located in the northern direction of the NK DA. The NK MoD informed about the incident. According to the official source, the circumstances of the case have not yet been clarified: the preliminary version is suicide.
The 22-year-old Vanik Gevorgyan, who served in the NK DA for already a year, was killed in mysterious circumstances in one of the military units called “Ara Ler” in Artsakh.
The parents of the soldier do not believe the preliminary hypothesis of suicide. The body was found at night on September 2 inside a half-destroyed building. The young man had a rope around his neck. Typical injuries for strangling have been found on his neck. Whereas the body was found in an unnatural position for a suicide with hanging with his feet on the ground.

Karen Hovhannisyan (29 August, RA)

On August 29, 2018, at approximately 8:15 a.m., in the duty part of the RA MoD N Military Unit, the body of senior Lieutenant Karen Hovhannisyan was found with a mortal gunshot wound on the chin and top of the head.
An investigation was carried out on the site of the incident. A criminal case has been initiated in the 9th Military Garrison Investigation Division of the General Investigation Department as per Article 110 Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code.
A preliminary investigation is underway. All the necessary investigative actions are being undertaken to ensure comprehensive, objective and complete investigation of the circumstances of the soldier’s death.

Gevorg Haroyan (1 October, NK)

On October 1, at approximately 10:50 a.m. in one of the Military Units located in the South-Eastern direction of the NK DA, Gevorg Haroyan (born in 1997), a military serviceman in the NK Defense Army, received severe gunshot wounds under unidentified circumstances.
The wounded soldier was taken to the Military Hospital, where he was pronounced legally dead at 3:05 p.m.

The First Garrison Investigative department filed a criminal case on the death of private Gevorg Haroyan as per Article 110 Part 1of the RA Criminal Code. Due to the manifold investigation, significant data were acquired on the cases of applying violence towards G. Haroyan by his peer soldiers regarding the service duties.

Juxtaposing the respective sufficient proofs, a Junior Sergeant was charged as per Article 358 Part 4 of the RA Criminal Code and detention was applied as a preventive measure against him.

On the basis of negligence by the authorities, as well as cases of insulting Private Haroyan for the quality of his service duties, the Captain Commander was charged with responsibility as per Article 375 Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code and Article 360 Part 2 of the RA Criminal Code. Detention was applied as a preventative measure against him.

The preliminary investigation on the case is underway.

The relatives of Gevorg Harutyunyan, however, insist that the incident is a case of a murder. According to them, Gevorg Harutyunyan had been violently beaten before the murder. His mother says that she was informed from Martuni Prosecutor’s Office that the soldier had been shot from 2 meter’s distance. “In that case, how can he have shot and killed himself?”, questions Armine Haroyan, the victim’s mother.

Excluding suicide or self-injury, the Haroyans demand the disclosure of the case.

Aristakes Azatyan (6 November, NK )

On 6 November 2018, approximately between 8:20 and 8:30 a.m. soldier of Military Unit N, private Aristakes Azatyan caused himself a mortal gunshot wound under the chin area with his AK-74 machine gun while located 70 meters away from the control point of the military unit.
A case has been initiated in the first Garrison Investigative Department as per Article 110 Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code. The preliminary investigation is underway.

Gor Sargsyan (1 December, RA)

On 1 December 2018 at approximately 8:55 p.m., contractual military serviceman Gor Sargsyan was found in the combat position of the protection area of N military unit with a gunshot wound in the chest area. The serviceman died on the way to Ararat City MC.
The 8th Military Garrison Investigation Division of the General Investigation Department of the RA Investigative Committee filed a criminal case as per Article 110 Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code. A preliminary investigation is underway.

Fatal Incident

Mher Ziroyan (6 January, NK)

Pargev Saribekyan (6 January, RA)

Edgar Yeremyan (15 March, NK)

On March 15 at approximately 5:30 p.m. Defense Army military serviceman Edgar Yeremyan (Born in 1999) died in a car accident during military training at one of the NK DA military units situated in the northern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
An investigation is underway to find out the details of the incident and a criminal case has been initiated.

Armen Harutyunyan (24 March, NK)

On March 24 at approximately 4:55 p.m. in the defense area of one of the NK DA military units situated in the northern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani contact line, a NK Defense Army military serviceman Armen Haroutyunyan (Born in 1999) died in an accident as a result of tree deracination caused by strong winds. An investigation is underway to find out the details of the accident.

Ruslan Manukyan (17 April, NK)

On April 17, in the protection area of one of the DA military units located in the northern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani borderline, NK Defense Army soldier Ruslan Manukyan (born in 1998) died of mortal injuries as a result of a mine explosion.
An investigation to disclose the details of the incident are underway.

Narek Chagharyan (29 May, NK )

Suren Ayvazyan (30 May, NK )

Armen Minasyan (29 July, RA)

Armen Hovakimyan (5 August, NK)

Artak Grigoryan (9 August, RA)

Vazgen Khachatryan (3 September, NK)

Hayrapet Nairyan (7 November, RA)

The Defense Ministry Spokesman Atrsrun Hovhannisyan published information on the victims of the vehicle accident which happened on 7 November 2018 on the Goris-Kubatly highway.

For soldiers died in the accident:

Hayrapet Nairyan, born in 1998, 2017/1 conscription, Erebuni MC,

Hrant Gasparyan, born in 1998, 2017/1 conscription, Shahumyan MC,

Edgar Hunanyan, born in 1998, 2017/1 conscription, Hrazdan MC,

Davit Melkonyan, born in 1998, 2017/1 conscription, Talin MC.

M. H. (27 November, RA  )

The contractual military serviceman was found dead under the avalanche in the vicinities of Village Kokhakn in Gegharkunik Region.  On November 27 at 2:58 p.m. the “911” service was informed that a citizen of the village of Kakhakn, Gegharkunik Region, M. H. (born in 1994) remained under the avalanche and the rescuers’ help was needed. A brigade from the MES Rescue Squadron left for the scene. The search and rescue operations were interrupted due to darkness and bad weather conditions. On November 28 at 6:55 a.m. two brigades (10 rescuers) from the MES Special Rescue Operations Rescue Squadron arrived at the scene to conclude the search and rescue operations.  

Armen Babayan (4 December, RA)

The RA MoD informed that on December 4 at approximately 10:20 a.m., the connection had been lost with the RA AF SU-25 combat aircraft which made training flights in accordance with the daily combat readiness plan.
According to the official statement, the airplane took the flight root at 10:06 a.m. from Gyumri Airport.
Later the site of the accident was revealed. Lieutenant Colonel Armen Babayan and Major Movses Manukyan died as a result of the accident.

Hayk Karamyan (5 December, RA)

On December 5 at approximately 5:30 p.m., in the protection area of N military unit, five contractual military servicemen remained under the avalanche. Due to the search and rescue operations, four of the military servicemen were successful detected and taken out of the avalanche on the same day. Their health condition is considered satisfactory.
On 6 December at approximately 2 p.m., the body of Hayk Karamyan (born in 1995, on military service since 2016, Sisian Military Commissariat) was found under the avalanche.
An investigation is underway to reveal the details of the incident.

Violation of safety rules

Hovsep Grigoryan(27 January, NK)

On January 27, 2018 at approximately 16: 25-16: 45, a soldier of one of the military unit of the NK Defense Army, Hovsep Grigoryan, received a deadly gunshot wound in the forehead. According to preliminary data, Hovsep Grigoryan suffered fatal gunshot injuries as a result of breach of rules for handling weapons by another compulsory military serviceman.
A criminal case has been initiated in the third garrison investigation department under Article 373, Part 3 of the RA Criminal Code. As a result of measures undertaken, the serviceman was arrested.

Zhora Petrosyan (24 July, RA)

n July 24 a call was received in the Garrison Investigation Department informing that on the same day at approximately 3:00 p.m. in the combat position of N Military Unit of the Defense Ministry of the Republic of Armenia a military serviceman, Zhora Petrosyan, received a mortal gunshot wound on his facial area. The investigative group immediately went for the scene. According to the preliminary data, the gunshot was caused as a result of breach of the rules of handling arms by the military serviceman.
The 8th Military Garrison Investigation Division of the General Investigation Department has initiated a criminal case as per Article 373 Part 3 of the RA Criminal Code, for violating the rules of arms and ammunition, which negligently caused the death of a human being. The military serviceman who accidentally caused the gunshot, Karen Adamyan, has been arrested.
The family of Petrosyan do not believe in the hypothesis of negligence of military service; they claim that the that the leadership of the military unit is doing everything to save the senior official from responsibility.

Aghasi Mkrtchyan (26 September, NK)

On September 26, at approximately 8:10 p.m., in the protection area of one of the MoD Military Units, soldier Aghasi Mkrtchyan (born in 1999) received a mortal gunshot wound under unclear circumstances.

On September 27 the Davit Babayan, the press secretary for President of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan, released an official message stating that the soldier died while protecting the homeland, shortly after which the victim was presented with a medal for “Combat Service” by President Bako Sahakyan.

A few days later the Investigative Committee found out that the soldier was killed by a military serviceman and not the Azerbaijani side.
The RA Military Garrison Investigation Division of the General Investigation Department has filed a criminal case on the basis of the soldier’s murder.

Health Issues

Hayk Hakobyan (8 February, NK)

NK Defense army soldier Hayk Hakobyan (Born in 1999) died in the Stepanakert military hospital on February 8, 2018 at approximately 2:15p.m. because of illness ( preliminary diagnosis is fulminant meningococcemia), NK Defense Ministry press service reports.
An investigation is underway to find out the details of the case.

Armen Atanesyan (29 June, NK)

On June 29, at approximately 8:30, a contractual soldier of one of the DA central military units, Armen Atanesyan (born in 1973) died as a result of an illness (the preliminary diagnosis being gallbladder disease, liver failure).
An investigation is underway to reveal the circumstances of the soldier’s death.

No official statement has been released or none has been obtained by the NGO on the causes of death for three military servicemen.

Harutyun Khachatryan (16 January, NK)

On January 16, 2018 at approximately 1:05a.m. soldier Harutyun Khachatryan (Born in 1998) of the military unit located in the northern direction of the Defense Army died in unknown  circumstances.
An investigation is underway to find out the circumstances of the case.

Stepan Stepanyan (12 February, RA)

A criminal case on the death of Private Stepan Stepanyan has been filed in the 4h Garrison Investigative Division of the RA General Military Investigative Department. A report was received on February 12, 2018, stating that the soldier Stepan Stepanyan died at the reanimation department of the Central Clinical Military Hospital of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia. On the same day a forensic examination was appointed by the 4h Garrison Investigation Department of the RA General Military Investigative Department to find out the causes of the death of the serviceman . According to preliminary data, soldier Stepan Stepanyan had been granted a leave from February 1 to 10, 2018, which he spent in the Garni village of Kotayk Region. On February 10 the military serviceman left Garni village and accompanied by his uncle in his car went to  Yerevan Northern bus station to leave for Ijevan to continue his military service. On the road to the bus station at around 12:30 p.m., he felt bad but did not refuse to go back to his service. At around 23:15 on the same day, Stepan Stepanyan turned to the medical station of the military unit, after which he was transported to Ijevan Medical Center to receive medical aid. On the next day, February 11, at 07:30a.m. Stepan Stepanyan was transported in unconscious condition to MOD Central Military Hospital, where he died at 5:30p.m. on February 12.
The results of the forensic examination have not been received yet. According to the body autopsy, the forensic doctors recorded cerebral palsy with the syndrome of cerebral pressure as the immediate pathological condition that led to death. The cause of death was pronounced “coma of unknown origin”.
On February 22 based on the materials prepared on the case of the death of the military serviceman, a criminal case was filed in the 4h Garrison Investigation Division  of the RA General Military Investigative Department under Article 130 (Part2) of the RA Criminal Code. The preliminary investigation is underway. All the necessary investigation measures for the comprehensive, objective and full investigation of all circumstances of death of the serviceman are underway.

Martin Khachatryan (22 May, RA)

An investigation is underway in the 8^th Garrison Investigative Department of the RA Investigation Committee to find out the circumstances of the death of the soldier Private Martin Khachatryan.
On May 22, 2018, at approximately 01:35 p.m. in the combat post of one of the RA MoD Military Units, a soldier Private Martin Khachatyan’s body was found with a penetrating mortal gunshot wound in the abdominal area.
A forensic examination has been appointed, other necessary investigative and procedural actions are taken to determine all the circumstances and verify all the possible hypotheses of the soldier’s death.

© 2018. ILLUSTRATION BY PEACE DIALOGUE NGO  

Strategic litigation on the refusal of post-educational contractual military service by military servicemen who have graduated from military-educational institutions

Peace Dialogue NGO has initiated a strategic litigation for the protection of the right of military servicemen who have graduated from military-educational institutions and refuse post-educational military service. With the involvement of lawyer Artur Sukiasyan, the organization is planning to apply to the court on the basis of one of the military servicemen enrolled in the RA Reserve Military Forces with the request to invalidate the RA government decree provision applied on him.

In the case of refusal of post-educational military service, servicemen who have graduated from military-educational institutions must compensate the expenses of their education. The compensation procedure is set in the RA Governmental Decree N 393-Ն of 8 April, 2010.

For years, on the basis of the provisions of the aforementioned legal act, the military servicemen who refused the post-educational military service had to pay a sum of money corresponding not to the actual expenses of their education, but to the money the state has expended on the education of one military student as of the day of discharge from military.

Such calculation of the reimbursement of educational expenses is established in the RA Governmental Decree N393-Ն of 8 April, 2010, according to the law of “Procedure for compensation of expenses related to education in case of refusal of contractual military service by military servicemen who have completed military training”. As per Article 3 of the aforementioned law, the incurred costs of educational allocated by the state must be calculated in accordance with the cost of educational expenses per military student as of the day of discharge from the military.

In the case of such legal regulations, the military servicemen who want to discharge from military must actually compensate to the state not the amount of money factually allocated for their educational expenses but a sum that the state has not spent on them. This means that during the provision of training for a military serviceman who wants to discharge from military, the state, for instance, may have spent much less money on their food because of the lower quality of the products, while at the time of discharge from military, the military serviceman has to compensate a sum of money exceeding that allocated to him just because at the time of reimbursement the state provides higher quality food to military servicemen. This approach contradicts the requirements of the law, for the performance of which the Governmental Decree N 393-Ն was adopted. Besides, it does not fit in the logic and regulations of damage compensation.

It should be noted that the provisions of Governmental Decree N 393-Ն of 8 April, 2010, apply to the military servicemen graduated from all military-educational institutions. In order to make changes in the law-enforcement practice in this field and to ensure public awareness the organization has come up with such an initiative and is currently taking steps in invalidating the provision stated by the court.

Please follow our webpage to keep the track of the initiative.

On 6 May, 2018, term military serviceman Levon Torosyan was killed in the RA MoD Military Unit N21127. According to the official version, on 6 May, 2018, at approximately 7:25 a.m., in the territory of the military base of “Hakobasar” of the RA MoD Military Unit 21127, the body of Levon Torosyan, soldier at the same military unit, was found with a mortal penetrating gunshot wound in his head. The entrance of the wound was in the bottom of the chin and the exit was on the top of the head.

As it has already been mentioned, the expert of Peace Dialogue NGO, criminologist Ruben Martirosyan was involved in this case as a legal representative of the victim’s successor. After getting acquainted with the case materials, he has filed a statement on the crime to the Prosecutors Office. We are presenting the mentioned statement below.  

“Approximately 10-15 minutes before the murder, Levon Torosyan made a phone call home from his peer serviceman’s mobile phone, and talked to his mother for four minutes, from 07:04 a.m. to 07:08 a.m. The beginning and the ending of the phone conversation was with his mother, Armenuhi Torosyan. Hearing her son yawn at the other end of the line, the mother asked Levon if he was asleep and had just woken up. Levon answered that he had been asleep and had decided to call early in the morning since it was his rest time and he would be able to “talk longer”. The conversation was mainly about Levon’s request to move him to another battalion. However, the conversation was abruptly interrupted. Suddenly Levon’s voice was heard from afar and was increasingly growing away saying “mom, mom!”. The mother said, “Levon jan, your voice is coming from afar”. According to Torosyan’s mother, his son wanted to say something at that moment but didn’t manage to. Some other incomprehensible sounds were heard after which the conversation was interrupted. Allegedly immediately after that unknown persons unexpectedly hit Levon Torosyan on the genital area with a blunt object (presumably with the machine gun butt) from left to right horizontally, which was proven by the expert conclusion N0604/12. This means that the soldier was subjected to violence and was killed in a matter of a few minutes. According to the testimony of witness Albert Bakhshyan, the latter heard the gunshot at approximately 07:20 a.m. most likely from the dugout or its vicinities, since at the moment, as already mentioned, Torosyan had just woken up and was having a rest. After the murder the body was moved in front of the first watchtower and was seated on a stump. The statement that the body had been moved is proven by the forensic examination of the corpse N0604/12 which revealed scratches in the articular area of the victim’s elbows caused by friction with blunt objects or surfaces and having a posthumous origin. Torosyan’s service Kalashnikov hand machine gun N X-6896 was moved to the false crime site with the butt leaning on the ground and the barrel touching the wound on the chin area, and the body was moved forward leaning on the machine gun barrel.

1. Abazyan, the case investigator, who at that time was unaware of the phone conversation between the victim and his mother and that Levon had informed his mother that it was his rest time, took the soldiers to the Military Police and by exercising violence and threats, extorted false testimonies that the incident was a case of a suicide which happened in front of N1 military watchtower where Torosyan was allegedly carrying out his combat duty.

By means of this forgery, K. Abazyan and his superiors solve a number of problems:

1. This allows to justify the fact that the machine gun was at the victim’s disposal (according to the hypothesis brought forth by the investigator, Torosyan was carrying out his combat duty).
2. It allows to extort false testimonies from witnesses claiming that they haven’t seen the fact of the murder, since it happened in the 1^st watchtower, whereas at the moment they were in the dugout or its vicinities. In reality, however, according to the expert conclusion on the ballistic analysis of swindles, all the soldiers were present at the crime scene at the moment of the crime.
3. It also allows to “prove” that no special incident had preceded the murder in the “Hakobasar” Military Unit and that everything went in accordance with the rules of combat duty. In reality, as mentioned above, Torosyan was killed immediately after the phone conversation with his mother in the presence of his peer soldiers.

Subsequently identifying these circumstances, investigator Abazyan decided to hide the traces of the murder by any possible means. He decided to carry out a forensic technical-computer investigation, in which he particularly mentioned that “In the course of the preliminary investigation of the criminal case, the mobile phones of three soldiers assigned to duty in the “Hakobasar” Military Unit, namely, Garnik Avetisyan, Sevak Kartashyan, and Minas Militonyan have been taken by the RA Tavoush Region Military Police officers and had been submitted to the body conducting the proceedings”. Investigator Abazyan mentioned the models of all the three mobile phones without mentioning their sim numbers. In this way the investigator was trying to confuse the victim side, since the latter was not aware to whom particularly belonged the sim number 077876542, with which he usually kept in contact with his mother and talked three times during the mentioned duty period. The victim side managed to determine that the mentioned number belonged to Gevorg Hakobyan, a soldier in the same combat position. This means that there was also a fourth mobile phone, which was concealed by the investigator in a hope to never be revealed by the victim side. On 19 June, 2018, A. Barseghyan, the prosecutor supervising the criminal case, decided to satisfy the motion to provide copies of the expert conclusions and decisions made in the case, in the same time illegally denying the motion of the victim side regarding “providing the deciphering of the phone calls”, bringing the reasoning that the mentioned document is a preliminary investigative secret.

With his illegal decision A. Barseghyan wanted to limit the access of the victim’s parents to the documents for preventing them from noting the absence of the needed sim number among the three telephone numbers presented for examination. The supervising prosecutor did not take into consideration the fact that the document is also an expert conclusion which must be available after the investigator’s decision on assigning a forensic technical-computer examination. The investigator was bound to provide the copies of all the expert conclusions to the victim side.

Another obvious proof of a crime is the fact that according to the fingerprint examination conclusion N44951802, on the surface of the machine gun attached to Levon Torosyan no comparable fingerprints were revealed. As Abazyan had preliminarily informed the victim’s parents, such fingerprints cannot be identified for a simple reason: the machine gun does not have any flat surfaces where fingerprints could have been left. In reality, the fingerprints could have been destroyed by Abazyan himself, since the machine gun also contained the fingerprints of the person who carried it out of the dugout and put it next to the victim’s body; i.e. the fingerprints of the perpetrator.

The victim side also possesses another undeniable fact that initially on the first days of the preliminary investigation there were two suspects, the information on the one of whom disappeared from the case documents alongside the crime he had committed.

Attached below you can find the document proving L. Torosyan’s phone conversation with his mother immediately before the murder. The document has been legally obtained by the victim’s father from “Viva-Cell” Co.

Rising from the aforementioned, the victim side has filed a mediation to initiate a corresponding legal procedure on the basis of the statement and has ordered to assign the preparation of documents, the initiation of the criminal case, and the preliminary investigation to the Special Investigative Service of the RA Investigative Committee.

P.S. Besides the above listed facts included in the statement, the fact of forgery during the preliminary investigation is also proven by the following: according to the ballistic examination N44961803 (conclusion page 5), from the magazine of L. Torosyan’s machine gun 42 bullets have been found and 1 bullet was found from the barrel of the machine gun. The machine gun magazines possess 45 bullets: this fact comes to substantiate that there were two shots released from the mentioned machine gun instead of the one shot mentioned by the investigative body. According to the investigator and the experts, the machine gun was put on a single shot mode, consequently, L. Torosyan could not have released two shots. This means that the shots were released by the perpetrator who murdered Torosyan or the investigator Abazyan himself in order to create falsified material evidence. The same examination of the bulletproof vest has revealed two boxes with 90 and 88 bullets respectively in the pockets. This means that two of the bullets in one of the boxes were missing.