Soldier Wounded by Sniper Fire Went Missing While Being Transferred to Armenia

30-year-old Sargis Hartenyan is a contract soldier from the village of Akhuryk in the Shirak province. He went missing during the days of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. His relatives last spoke with him on October 6.

Sargis Hartenyan is married and has two minor sons. In a conversation with NEWS.am, Sargis's friend, Hambardzum Khachatryan, recounted that his friend called all his friends and relatives on October 6, saying, "We're in excellent condition, we're moving forward."

Hambardzum reported that Sargis was fighting in the direction of Mataghis and was wounded on October 8 while descending with the wounded under sniper fire to the chest area, after which there was no further news of him. "He had gone to Aghdam with the Vanadzor military unit, then they took him to Mataghis, where he was injured on October 8. His fellow servicemen provided first aid, bandaged him, and transferred him to the Martakert hospital. Later, we confirmed that a questionnaire had been opened in his name, and he underwent surgery in the hospital. According to them, they were supposed to take him to Stepanakert, and then to Goris, but they left Martakert and went missing. We found the ambulance there. The personnel in the vehicle say that they had a severely wounded person with them. We clarified that when the ambulance left, nothing happened on the way; they traveled normally,” he explained.

Hambardzum Khachatryan stated that his friend has been missing under unknown circumstances for about 4 months now, yet no law enforcement agency has dealt with the issue. “We have contacted the National Security Service, the Ministry of Defense, the Military Police, the Military Prosecutor's Office, the Human Rights Defender, and the Russian peacekeepers. When we applied in writing to the NSS, they called us, asking for Sargis’s phone number, which we provided. After a few days, we received no information from them. We activated Sargis’s phone number, wanting to find out if they were dealing with the issue. We made calls to that phone number, but no one from the NSS said, ‘this person’s number is activated; perhaps he has been found’,” he emphasized.

He insisted that a criminal case should be opened in connection with this case. “We want a criminal case to be initiated because, according to our information, Sargis was alive and went missing under unknown circumstances. If we think he was taken captive, that is not very likely, as the chances of such capture were not high during those days. It is impossible that he would have been taken prisoner from the hospital. He might be in one of our hospitals, but we have checked everywhere, to no avail. We are thinking maybe he is somewhere in an unconscious state; let's find him. Let's consider the worst case; if he is not alive, where is the body, especially since Mataghis is under our control? There are his fellow servicemen. One of his comrades was taken to Yerevan immediately when he was injured in the same place,” he concluded.