Murders, suicide statistics in Armenian army might horrify
By Rashid Shirinov
The number of murders and suicides in the Armed Forces of Armenia has been revealed, while the figures are more than just horrifying.
A total of 206 deaths were recorded in the Armenian troops from 2010 to 2015, while 48 of them were suicides and 43 – murders, agency TransConflict stated. The material was prepared on the basis of available information in the website www.safesoldiers.am, the agency notes.
The revealed statistics do not include the number of Armenian soldiers killed in skirmishes caused by Armenia’s violations of the ceasefire regime on the contact line between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops. In percentage terms, these figures are equivalent to 23 and 21 percent respectively of the total number of non-combat losses in the last six years, the agency stated.
Recently, the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office (HCAV) reported that for the last 3 years, 114 of the total of 288 servicemen – nearly 40 percent – died in non-hostile circumstances.
Meanwhile, the Armenian media continue to report about non-combat deaths in the Armenian army. A number of facts of death and injury as a result of “violation of weapon usage rules” were recorded in the Armenian army since early 2016, while the number of suicide attempts and suicides is also on rise.
Human rights groups contend that most of Armenian army suicides are being covered up by army officers who often tamper with evidence of these crimes.
Armenian media claims that negative cases in the army happen
because of the
corruption, spending finance for buying weapons and military
equipments, as well as law material and social life conditions of
officers.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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