CDSI reports 20 perished Azerbaijani soldiers in 2019

Out of 20 Azerbaijani soldiers, who perished since the start of 2019, only five were killed in battles in the Karabakh conflict zone, the Caspian Defence Studies Institute (CDSI) has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported referring to the Institute that in 2018, out of 37 perished militaries only six were combat casualties. Information about non-combat losses in Azerbaijan is silenced, experts said.

The CDSI website reports that five Azerbaijani soldiers perished during shelling attacks on the troops contact line; another one – in a shootout with border trespassers. One military serviceman died of a disease, and two – as a result of frostbite. Four persons died for unknown reasons; two perished in a road accident; four as a result of explosions of mines and shells; and one military committed suicide.

18 2019 casualties served for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), but officially the Ministry reported only 10 soldiers' deaths.

According to the CDSI, in 2019, 12 military servicemen were wounded or received traumas.

The "army topic" is closed for the Azerbaijani society, Djasur Sumerinli, the head of the CDSI, is sure.

"Serious reforms and the fight against corruption in the army are necessary," he has noted.

The army is closed to civilian control, said Ogtai Gyulyalyev, the head of the Committee against Repression and Torture. "Often, flagrant human rights violations are behind this," Mr Gyulyalyev has stated.