Detention of Soldier Incompatible with Injury: MP on Aren Aramyan

Tomorrow, at 2:00 PM, a court session will be held regarding the change of preventive measure for soldier Aren Aramyan based on the request of lawyer Ara Karapetyan. This was announced by MP Tigran Abrahamyan from the ‘Honorary’ parliamentary group on his Facebook page.

“Soldier Aramyan is one of those servicemen wounded and later captured as a result of the Azerbaijani aggression on November 16, 2021, who was detained after returning home. Aren Aramyan participated in the Four-Day War in 2016, the July events of 2020, and the hostilities of the 44-Day War in 2020, for which he was proposed for a state award by the command,” he noted.

On November 16, 2021, while facing enemy assaults, he engaged in combat operations, during which he sustained a gunshot wound to the knee area. Afterward, the enemy approached and struck Aren Aramyan on the head with the butt of a rifle, causing bodily harm. After being captured, he was subjected to torture. Upon returning to his homeland, he was transferred to a military hospital, where he received inpatient treatment. Ten days later, Aren Aramyan was discharged from the military hospital and immediately arrested.

Aren Aramyan was diagnosed with a gunshot penetrating wound around the right knee joint, a comminuted fracture of the external condyle of the right femur, a lacerated wound of the right temporal area, and advised to continue immobilization with a knee fixator for another month, after which he would need rehabilitation treatment. This is not feasible in detention.

In response to the lawyer’s inquiry addressed to the director of the Crimean Medical Center of the Ministry of Justice on December 22, 2021, a letter was received from the Ministry of Justice’s Correctional Medical Center on January 12, 2022, suggesting that Aren Aramyan undergo a scheduled EMG study, isotonic and rehabilitation exercises at the ‘Erebuni’ Medical Center, and symptomatic treatment if necessary. On the same day, Aren Aramyan was transferred to the ‘Hospital for Convicts’ of the Ministry of Justice.

On January 13, 2022, Aren Aramyan informed that, in the convict hospital, doctors examined him in the morning and stated that it was impossible to carry out treatment and rehabilitation of the leg under the conditions of the facility. On January 19, 2022, Aren Aramyan was examined at Armed Medical Center, where he was informed that the nerve system of the leg was almost non-functional and without medical intervention, the limb might be amputated in a short time. The examining doctor reported this, although the documented diagnosis had not yet been received.

Regardless of the criminal case against the soldier, it is evident that being in detention is incompatible with his injury and further treatment; currently, there is even a risk of limb amputation. I hope these factors will be taken into account, and the soldier's preventive measure will be changed; otherwise, it results in the continuation of the torture inflicted in Azerbaijan manifesting in a different form in Armenia,” the MP wrote.