‘This is not suicide for me, what more do you want me to say?’ Davit Tonoyan

‘This is not suicide for me.’ This was stated today by Armenia’s Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan to the relatives of a deceased serviceman.

‘This is not suicide for me, what more do you want me to say? I will follow this case,’ Tonoyan said, visibly upset, to the relatives.

The relatives demanded to know the name of the serviceman who was connected to the death of serviceman Vahram Avagyan. The deceased's brother insisted on how they could trust the minister's words when the press had been reporting on suicide for several days.

The minister responded that they had no reason not to trust him and urged them to stop the protest action: ‘Let’s stop all this; it does not bring honor to you, nor to your child, and foremost, not to your country. I am telling you that, as far as I have information and the circumstances I know of, it was not suicide. I will also add that if he was physically present, I do not know, but morally, I personally take responsibility, the commanders will take responsibility, as they did not monitor properly and will have to face both disciplinary and criminal legal evaluations, I assure you of that. You have no reason not to believe me.’

It is worth noting that the relatives wanted to transfer the deceased serviceman’s body to the Ministry of Defense, but after speaking with the minister, they returned to the village to bury the soldier.

It should be noted that the relatives do not believe the official version of suicide regarding the serviceman who died on January 30 in the shooting range in Artsakh.

For more details, watch the video: NEWS.am