Bereaved parents want to know cause of their children's death (video)
Although military officials in Armenia claim that military reforms are under underway in the country, investigation of a number of non-combat deaths has not produced any results yet. These deaths in the ranks in peacetime have again stirred public debate, with desperate parents demanding fair investigation into their sons' deaths. The case of Valerik Muradyan, who was found dead in a military unit stationed in Stepanakert in 2010, was discounted in December 2015. Valerik’s mother Nana Muradyan, learnt about it from an Armenian lawmaker instead of the law enforcement agencies. She does not believe that official version that her son was electrocuted. “We have disputed the decision but to no avail. Before his death, my son told me on the phone that he had witnessed the theft of fuel, the thieves offered him money in exchange for his silence, but he refused to take it. Four days later, we learnt that our son had been killed in his military unit,” says Nana Muradyan. The circumstances of the death of Artur Ghazaryan, who was killed in a military unit in Hadrut in April 2011, also remain unknown. A criminal case was initiated after his death on charges of causing the serviceman to commit suicide but later the case was dropped due to absence of corpus delicti. “I have a witness – Grigor Arsenyan who witnessed the murder of my son. He used to work in the police but was soon dismissed,” Artur mother said today. “These people want to know the cause of their children’s deaths but they have been presented unreliable hypotheses for many years. The deaths are not disclosed for other reasons,” says human rights advocate Avetik Ishkhanyan.
