New Alarm, Noteworthy Details on the Incident at the Kapan Military Unit

Auroranews has revealed noteworthy details regarding the service of Vle Feroyan, who went missing from the Kapan military unit. Soldiers who contacted us from the unit stated that the reports claiming Feroyan was beaten, spread by his relatives, have no basis in reality.

“Firstly, it should be noted that Feroyan's brother is also serving in a nearby unit, and he is experiencing the same situation—periodically causing problems and refusing to participate in any matters related to discipline. But how is it that we, all soldiers in the unit, are involved in this same situation? No one has beaten him; his relatives are spreading those stories to justify him, but that is not the case. So, shall we all just do nothing, call our relatives to complain, and run away from the unit?” they said, requesting that their identities remain confidential.

One of them also mentioned that this issue has reached the attention of the unit commander, who has attempted to intervene. “We know that the commander called him into his office, during which the commander started cleaning his office and said that he is doing this and that there is nothing wrong with it—especially since none of the servicemen avoid maintaining order and cleanliness in the unit.”

Earlier, we reported that relatives of Vle Feroyan, an ethnic Yezidi conscripted into the army on January 31, alerted authorities that their relative had been brutally beaten and forced to clean the bathrooms. They stated that the leadership of the Kapan military unit had demeaned and assaulted Feroyan, prompting him to flee, and there has been no news of him since.

It should be noted that a source from the military unit also denied the accounts provided by Feroyan's relatives in a conversation with News.am. Another serviceman from the same unit called the editorial office and discussed that Feroyan had refused to follow orders from the officers and did not clean his sleeping area.

“Vle Feroyan refused both to wear military attire and to maintain cleanliness in his dormitory. He was not forced to clean the bathroom; he was simply told to clean his dormitory. In our unit, soldiers do not clean the bathrooms. He was not beaten; I also deny the information that he and another Yezidi soldier were not allowed to eat. Prior to the main disagreements, Vle's brother came to the unit at an unauthorized time and told him to do whatever he wants. Later, Vle's other relatives met with Captain Armen Avagyan and asked him to allow Vle to sleep in that dormitory, although the captain had said he needed to clean it before sleeping there, stating, ‘We will come tomorrow, we will talk to him; he will be like everyone else.’ That same day, Captain Avagyan lined the troops up and said, ‘If you agree that this soldier integrates into your ranks after what happened, take a step forward; everyone but Vle stepped forward.’ They started having disagreements, but there was no beating. Vle spoke disrespectfully to the commander. Regarding the other Yezidi soldier, he also initially did not obey Captain Avagyan, but after talking with him, integrated into our ranks. In the evening, Vle escaped from the unit by climbing over the wall; at that time, he dropped his cap, which is where we presume he fled from. No one saw him, because at that time the other soldiers were in the bathroom. As of now, we have no information about Vle,” the soldier stated.