Armenia’s Ombudsman condemns incidents in Army

Armenia’s Ombudsman has called for country’s authorities to carry out an intensive investigation into incidents occurred in the Armenian Army. The press office of the human rights defender released Friday the following statement: “On July 27, 2010, a soldier of the 3rd Unit of the Armed Forces of Armenia, 31-year-old lieutenant, specialist in oriental studies Artak Nazarian, was shot dead at the military lines. This accident was followed by a more horrific tragedy, when a soldier of [one of the units] opened fire at his mates and then committed a suicide. 

The Defense Ministry of Armenia has issued a statement containing order to carry out a detailed investigation into what had happened. These incidents, following one another, were added to some other killings committed in different military units, and this will negatively affect the fighting efficiency of the army and moral and psychological atmosphere of the public.

Armenia’s Ombudsman offers his deepest condolences to relatives of the killed soldiers, expresses his condemnation of incidents of such kin, and calls for all authorized bodies to take all necessary steps to solve the incidents in details and comprehensively and bring to account all responsible parties.”