Our generals are your servants
Armenia needs a military ombudsman to prevent non-combat deaths in the army, human rights activist Arthur Sakunts said on Wednesday.
"Many disabled boys are drafted into the army to provide the number of recruits," he said during today's roundtable on army issues.
The human rights activist thinks the Ombudsman's Office cannot handle army problems alone.
"Our army needs effective mechanisms of improving the current situation and defending the servicemen's rights. Problems in the army start during the call up and continue throughout the military service," he said.
Hero of the Artsakhi liberation war Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan (Commandos) says army is the reflection of civil life - new recruits bring neighborhood relations to the army.
"Army is a closed environment, with relationship between military commanders, officers and soldiers requiring serious analysis," he told A1+.
Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan is confident that army problems should not be made public. At the same time, he underlines that army needs a psychologist to work with servicemen especially on the frontline.
He believes that current relations in the army have formed in the course of time.
"We should take serious measures to neutralize these relations," he stressed.
According to official data, 187 servicemen died in the army in 2008-2011. Twenty-five of them died in ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan.
