Relatives of soldier accused of murdering his comrades-in-arms in Karabakh believe that he was forced to confess

Relatives and advocate of serviceman Manvel Azroyan soldier accused of killing four soldiers in a military unit of Nagorno-Karabakh do not exclude that the soldier's confession was obtained under pressure of law enforcement officials.

On November 24, Azroyan was charged of murder.

Grigor Azroyan, Manvel's brother, said in his comments on his brother's wounds that "a man who knifed his own stomach, cannot then shoot himself in the head." Grigor was also bewildered with the fact that his brother's plea was announced on November 24, that is, on the day, when Manvel Azroyan was transferred from the intensive therapy to an ordinary ward.

Manvel's father - Armen Azroyan, who saw his son at the time of transfer from the intensive care unit of the Stepanakert City Hospital to a regular therapy ward, said that his son was at that time unable to speak.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent managed to find out from Anna G., a resident of the village of Nalbandyan, Armavir Region, the home-folk of the Azroyans wonder why the parents and brother of Manvel, who is guarded by police officers in order to avoid retaliation by the relatives of murdered and wounded soldiers, were not allowed to see him.

Human rights activist Arthur Sakunts has noted that "obtaining confessions from a man in such a grave condition and presenting charges to him are already violations of human rights." He believes that law enforcers' actions were illegal. The defendant's advocate Musheg Shushanyan is of the same opinion, as written in the newspaper "Lragir" of November 25. "Evidence obtained in this way cannot be regarded as admissible," said Shushanyan.