Law Enforcement Agencies Contradict Each Other: Information on Criminal Cases Related to the War is Kept Secret

NEWS.am reports: "Three months after the hostilities ended in Artsakh, Armenian law enforcement agencies refuse to provide information regarding the criminal cases initiated for specific crimes against military service during the war. Over the past three months, NEWS.am has submitted written inquiries to the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Investigative Committee, and the Police of Armenia to determine how many criminal cases have been initiated based on the features of state treason, desertion, refusal to perform military service duties, voluntary abandonment of the battlefield, or refusal to act with a weapon during the war.

We attempted to find out how many individuals have been involved as suspects or defendants for the alleged commission of these acts, among other things.

The Prosecutor's Office initially stated that they do not keep such statistics, then informed that statistical data on these crimes are currently unavailable due to the state of martial law established in the republic and state and service secrets. Nevertheless, the Prosecutor's Office, "overcoming" the legal regime of martial law in the Republic and disclosing information considered a state and service "secret," issued a statement on December 21, 2020, regarding criminal cases initiated based on circumstances containing elements of apparent crime leading to the results of the last war in Artsakh.

Specifically, according to the Prosecutor's Office, a total of 882 criminal cases have been initiated in the Military Investigation Main Department of the Investigative Committee of Armenia for crimes against military service committed by military personnel of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia and the Defense Army of Artsakh during the aggressive war that erupted on September 27, 2020. These offenses included failure to follow orders, desertion, stopping the performance of military service or individual duties through dismemberment, refusal to perform military service duties, violations of the rules of combat duty or combat service, and demonstrating careless attitudes towards service.

Charges have been brought against dozens of individuals for the commission of the aforementioned criminal acts.

According to NEWS.am, these criminal cases have largely been initiated based on complaints from the relatives of fallen or missing servicemen, while data regarding non-compliance with orders and desertion have mainly been obtained from reports submitted by officers who participated in the war.

It becomes clear from the data released by the Prosecutor's Office that there are no criminal cases initiated for state treason, voluntary abandonment of the battlefield, or refusal to act with a weapon, while from the beginning of the war to the present day, high-ranking officials and ordinary citizens continue to assert that our defeat was caused by traitors and mass desertions from the battlefield.

No criminal cases have been initiated either under Article 379 of the Armenian Criminal Code, which concerns surrendering or leaving means of combat to the enemy, while an investigation should have been conducted to determine how the enemy managed to seize large amounts of unhit armored vehicles from Armenia and display them during the military parade held in Baku on December 10.

So far, it is also unclear how many individuals are suspected or accused of allegedly committing acts during the war, how many of them are conscripted servicemen, how many are contract servicemen, officers, or reservists."