Family members of Armenian soldier demand to investigate his death

In December 2010, soldier Arthur Kazaryan died at the Yerevan Military Hospital, but within eight years, no persons guilty of his death had been identified. Relatives of Arthur Kazaryan believe that he was killed, and they demand to conduct a thorough investigation.

"My son served as a reconnaissance man in one of the units in Gadrut [in Nagorny-Karabakh]. On December 14, 2010, they phoned us and we had a talk as usually, and he did not complain about anything. During our conversation, he only said that his commanders offered him to participate in [illegal activities] ... Three days later, on December 17, we got a call from the military enlistment office and we were informed that our son was in a military hospital in Yerevan. We left home to go to him, but he was in a coma," said Irina Kazaryan, a soldier's mother, at a press conference held in Yerevan on April 26, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

Medical officers said that the soldier suffered from tumor which grew rapidly, reported Smbat Kazaryan, a father of the soldier.

According to him, no evidence was ever presented to prove that Arthur Kazaryan suffered from tumor.

In 2013, the tissue samples taken during the autopsy of the soldier's body were destroyed, reported at the press conference Araik Papikyan, a lawyer representing the interests of the Arthur Kazaryan's parents.

According to the lawyer, the successors filed a crime report to the Prosecutor's Office. "However, neither the Military Prosecutor's office nor the Special Investigating Service found grounds for institution of a criminal case on intentional concealment of a crime. After the revolution, we got the hope that the cases would be solved. But in practice, it turned out that the system remained the same," Araik Papikyan said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 27, 2019 at 05:30 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.