23:53, 8 January 2020

Investigators take up case of Armenian soldier's death

On January 6, Gegam Khachatryan, a contract soldier, died at his combat post in one of Armenian military units; investigators believe that he committed suicide.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the problem of army suicides is relevant in Armenia. In December 2019, the MPs adopted amendments aimed to toughen the punishment for bringing military servicemen to suicide. However, human rights defenders treat this measure as insufficient. They insist that officers need to be held accountable for hazing; it's necessary to increase the women's contingent in the army, and to create a monitoring group to control the situation.

Let us remind you that according to the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Civil Assembly, in 2010-2019, overall 88 militaries committed suicides. In the first half of 2019, the prosecutor's office registered three suicide cases among servicemen of the Armed Forces of Armenia and the Defence Army of Nagorno-Karabakh.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 8, 2020 at 08:34 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Tigran Petrosyan

Source: CK correspondent