Armenian’s caretaker health minister on Thursday said she is not planning to step down after the authorities were accused of showing disrespect to the bodies of Armenian soldiers killed during last year’s war in Artsakh by keeping them in degrading conditions at a morgue in the town of Abovyan.
Anahit Avanesyan told reporters in the parliament that she has already publicly apologized to soldiers’ families and specific action has also been taken since then, including dismissal of some individuals.
"An investigation will be carried out, the circumstances will be revealed and all those responsible for the incident will be held to account according to the law," she said.
Asked whether she considers herself guilty in connection with the incident, Avanesyan said she responded to it immediately, offered her apologies and stressed the need for bringing all those responsible for the process to account.
"It was probably unusual for me to apologize. Maybe there has never been such a practice. I have apologized for the pain caused to the relatives [of the killed soldiers]. But I would like to reiterate that the act committed by an individual should be assessed within the framework of that act and in relation to that very person. A specific incident should not be attributed to the whole institution,” she said.