«There is no sadist here». The colonel rejects the allegations

The commander of the military unit has stated that he did not walk over soldiers lying on the ground. This was announced by Colonel Armen Gyozalyan, responding to allegations raised by the NGO 'Journalists for Human Rights'.

Earlier, the NGO published an article claiming that Gyozalyan leads a group of officers who constantly subject soldiers to violence and apply sadistic punishments against them. The article mentions that Gyozalyan's deputy, Major Arthur Fahradyan, his 'right hand', laid soldiers on the ground a year ago and walked over them as punishment for eating in the dormitory after the 'Sleep' order.

“The issue refers to an incident that happened a year ago, but I deny it. What is stated in the article (walking over soldiers, ed.) did not happen. Everything is distorted there. Fahradyan attempted to raise his hand against a soldier and has been punished for that,” Gyozalyan said.

According to him, the article incorrectly states the rank of the officer charged with non-statutory conduct. Fahradyan continues to serve, and Gyozalyan commented that Fahradyan is a “normal officer” who was not the instigator of the mentioned incident.

“As for the accusations of sadism and calling the military unit a ‘den of crime’ and labeling everyone a ‘sadist’, these are merely slanderous words against a military unit performing combat duty. There is no sadist here,” Gyozalyan emphasized.

Regarding the presence of many convicted officers in the military unit, Gyozalyan clarified that actually there are three such individuals, and they are conditionally convicted. One of them is the officer mentioned in the article (Fahradyan), while the other two were convicted due to technical reasons (loss of weapons and accidents).

Addressing the allegations made against him, Gyozalyan pointed out that he has served in various military units and noted that no such reports have ever been made until now; why has everything changed specifically in this unit?

He stressed that he encourages only those officers who perform their duties diligently within the limits of their authority. It should be noted that another article by the NGO 'Journalists for Human Rights' states that this is not the only case of violence in the military unit. Referring to the Prosecutor's Office of Armenia, they report that another criminal case was initiated in February 2019 regarding the use of violence by a superior against a subordinate. Charges have been brought against five individuals.