Karen Continued Fighting After Being Wounded, Ultimately Committing Suicide with a Friend Without Receiving Help from His Commander

On November 7 in Shushi, 20-year-old serviceman Sergeant Karen Mirzoyan, wounded in three places, fell into enemy encirclement and committed suicide with his friend Narek to avoid being captured. Karen Mirzoyan was originally from the town of Agarak and was the only son of his parents.

‘He was involved in wrestling, participated in competitions outside Armenia, and his coach always said that a promising future awaited Karen. He planned to continue wrestling after his service. He was studying at the Agrarian University, attended the first semester and then went to serve. He was drafted into the army on January 25, 2019, and was stationed in Stepanakert in an anti-tank unit. Months later, it became clear in their officer corps that Karen was very organized, later he attended sergeant classes and was promoted to sergeant. He was very dedicated to his soldiers,’ said Karen's sister, Alisa Mirzoyan, in an interview with NEWS.am.

Alisa recounted that they spoke to her brother two days before the war, on September 25, when he indicated that the situation was tense and they needed to be prepared at any moment. 'On the morning of September 27, we heard the news that they were removed from their unit in Stepanakert and were in a safe place. In reality, he had told our father that they were taken to Hadrut, where they participated in intense battles, staying there for about 20-25 days.'

Alisa shared that later the soldiers were taken to Karintak, where her brother's eardrum was damaged due to shelling. 'Karen saw through a telescope that a 200-person group of the enemy was moving towards them. His eardrum was damaged from the shelling, he couldn’t hear well, but he told us he was fine. The soldiers were helpless those days. Karen's platoon had no weapons; their weapons remained elsewhere, and the command was not even informed about this. The commander said if he had known, he would have told them to come down.'

They were then moved to Shushi. The last time Karen spoke with his parents was on November 7, which was also the last day of his fighting. 'After the battles in Karintak, they were taken to Shushi, but we didn’t know Karen was in Shushi. We last spoke to Karen on November 7 at around 8:00 AM. After that call, Karen became unavailable, saying he would call later but never did. Without any news, we began searching for Karen the next day. On November 9, we were told he was wounded, although Karen had already died. From the afternoon of November 7, tensions in Shushi had increased significantly. Their commander went out of the trench under some pretext and did not return. The soldiers were forced to pair up and disperse to save themselves. Subsequently, falling into encirclement increased the likelihood of Karen and his friend being captured or killed. Karen and Narek committed suicide to avoid capture or being killed by the enemy.

We found Karen's body on November 16. They had not even touched him; whatever he had in his pockets remained, including candies. Karen was wounded in three places but participated in the fighting. He was wounded in the leg and had tied it himself, had a wound in the groin area and in the chest. In total, there were 9 soldiers, of whom one survived, two are missing, and the rest died.'

According to his sister, their parents were told that Karen was killed by enemy fire, while in reality, their son had committed suicide to avoid capture. 'Karen shot himself from under his jaw. The forensic examination results have come in. The commander was aware of the second offensive on Shushi, which is why he fled. Both the commander and the soldiers are guilty of this. A criminal case has been initiated regarding this incident. The commander fled and saved himself, leaving his soldiers behind. When asked why he acted this way, he becomes speechless. The commander, Arthur Ohanyan, had been wounded in the early days of the war, and their commander was replaced. Their new commander has been Artem Arakelyan. The soldier, Hayk Gevorgyan, did not take care of the soldiers or help them.'