Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

The situation in the Armenian army is getting worse day by day, as the violence thrives among the army’s personnel. The continuous violence and outrages in the Armenian armed forces often result in murders and suicides.

Armenian media most recently reported about another incident – Junior Sergeant of the Armenian army Vardan Melkonyan was found hanged in a military unit on July 23. Later, Armenia’s Investigative Committee announced that Melkonyan’s fellow soldier was arrested on suspicion of committing violent acts against the late sergeant.

However, Melkonyan’s family is sure that he was murdered, but not committed suicide. They told the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor office that Melkonyan was probably killed by hanging or he was hung after being killed.

The family members said that a day before the incident, Melkonyan came home and then went to Yerevan with his friends. He called mother and sister at night and said them he would go to church the next day. However, he was found hanged next morning in his military unit.

Bullying, violence, including sexual, abuse and constant humiliation of human dignity – all these are common for the Armenian army. Armenian military officers often abuse their soldiers, as well as steal and sell their clothes and food.

Soldiers of some Armenian units do not receive even the minimum of the necessary provision. They are fed with poor-quality food, while unsanitary conditions prevail in military units; contagious diseases, especially the infectious ones are wide-spread there.

Moreover, there are dozens of stories of mysterious deaths in the Armenian army, most of which are being registered by Armenian investigation bodies as suicides in order to hide the real circumstances and real murderers. Therefore, Armenian mothers are afraid to send their sons to serve in the army, which provides terrible conditions for soldiers.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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