Armenian defense minister avoids meeting with deceased soldier's parents
By Rashid Shirinov
The continuing deaths in the military units of the Armenian Armed Forces cannot but worry the Armenian society. Worse still, miserable parents of the deceased soldiers cannot get justice for the deaths of their sons.
Parents of the serviceman Levon Torosyan, who died in mysterious circumstances on May 6 in a military unit in North-East Armenia, have recently arrived at the Government Building in the hope of meeting with the new Defense Minister David Tonoyan. However, he left the building through the back exit, Armenian media report.
It is noteworthy that Tonoyan is not the only defense minister of Armenia that avoids meeting with parents of soldiers killed in non-combat conditions. The former defense minister Seyran Ohanyan was doing the same.
After the death of Torosyan, the Investigative Committee claimed that he committed suicide, but the soldier’s family does not believe in this version. Expert of the Peace Dialogue organization Ruben Martirosyan also denied this version immediately after the autopsy. He found obvious facts of murder, such as parallel scratches on the elbows, which emerged simultaneously, and bruising on the genitals.
The late soldier’s mother Armenui Poghosyan was hoping that the head of the defense ministry would at least come out, talk to them and give some information about the progress in determining the circumstances of their son’s mysterious death. However, having learned that the minister left the workplace, the woman called on all parents of future recruits not to let their sons serve in the army until all cases of the soldiers’ deaths are solved.
“Better our children go to prison for evasion of military service than they would serve. They [the authorities] must figure out the situation in the army – drunk officers inhumanely treat soldiers. I demand a meeting with Nikol Pashinyan – he must put an end to the slaughter in the army!” the mother said.
Thus, the incident that occurred at the Government Building has shown that although Pashinyan made several appointments in the government, the attitude of the new authorities to the ordinary population has not improved.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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