“Obvious” that Military Conscripts were Coached Before Attending
Funeral: Deceased Soldier’s Cousin
06.24.2014 15:02 epress.am
The story of the June 20 death of rank-and-file soldier Grisha
Khachatryan (pictured) is very confusing: thus, it is necessary to
find the end of the tail and be vigilant, until all those who are
guilty are punished, Khachatryan’s cousin Arman Nikoghosyan told
Epress.am today. According to him, it’s impossible to describe the
atmosphere that prevailed at the funeral among the family, who doesn’t
know exactly what happened at the outpost of one of the military units
in Ararat marz (province).
“The military unit gave the guys serving in the Sisian region official
temporary leave to come and attend the burial. It’s surprising that
after such an incident, they are given official leave to attend the
burial, and in the evening they went home,” he said. According to
Nikoghosyan, all those who came to the funeral, from the rank-and-file
soldiers up to the commander of the military unit, unanimously claimed
they didn’t know about the incident.
“They say, they were at the [battle] positions; we were at the
military unit and didn’t know anything; but it was obvious that the
kids were specially prepared — from the young to the old, they were
briefed and then brought. We won’t leave it like this; we’ll find out
everything, point by point — all will be punished,” he said.
Recall, after news spread of the death of the 19-year-old military
conscript from the village of Sarnakunk in Syunik marz, RA Ministry of
Defense spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan said that, according to
preliminary data, Khachatryan died from an enemy bullet. Later, the
Ministry of Defense issued a statement in which it said that
Khachatryan died at the military post, and details of the incident
were being confirmed. Afterwards, RA Minister of Defense Seyran
Ohanyan told journalists that Khachatryan, according to preliminary
data, received a fatal gunshot wound as a result of a breach of the
rules for use of weapons.
Later, the Ministry of Defense declared that a criminal case was
launched under RA Criminal Code Article 104 Section 1 (murder).
Speaking to Epress.am, military expert Ruben Martirosyan, who was
present at the soldier’s autopsy on June 21, claimed that initially
the criminal case was filed under Article 373 Section 3 (“breach of
rules for handling weapons, ammunition and items dangerous for others,
which negligently caused human death”). According to Martirosyan, he
and relatives of the deceased saw that document at the morgue;
however, the Ministry of Defense didn’t report this in its statement.