Chilling Details: Lieutenant General Rescued Commander, Left Soldiers to Die

The Investigative Committee has completed its preliminary investigation into the case of former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, Andranik Makaryan. The case has been forwarded to the prosecutor for procedural supervision.

Andranik Makaryan has been charged under part 4 of Article 375 of the RA Criminal Code for inaction of authority, which manifested during a state of martial law, war, or battle conditions. He faces a prison sentence of 7 to 13 years under this article.

On October 21, 2020, Makaryan was responsible for carrying out a combat special mission in the area of Kovsakan. The investigation has revealed that part of the group operating under his command, led by commander A.A. of military unit N, was surrounded in the initial part of the city of Kovsakan. “In such circumstances, A.M. gave the order to his subordinate personnel to 'retreat' and returned to the city of Kapan, resulting in the 62-member group led by A.A., which was trapped, remaining without assistance in unequal combat conditions. Of the 40 military personnel in the 62-member group, 5 were captured, 12 were killed, and the whereabouts of the remaining 23 soldiers and 1 bus driver are still unknown,” stated the Investigative Committee in its report.

Andranik Makaryan was responsible for the Kovsakan line. Internal sources from the Ministry of Defense revealed to us that he did not exhibit 'inaction' towards everyone and allowed some to die in 'unequal combat.' “He evacuated his former subordinate Nishanyan's son, who was a commander, from there, while leaving the rest to be slaughtered. It is astonishing how our esteemed military personnel have behaved this way, especially when they truly had the chance to be heroes,” said the Ministry of Defense source.

This episode is also described in the statement from the Investigative Committee: “A.A., serving as the commander of military unit N, contrary to the applicable order, misused his official position, allowing G.N., who is the son of V.N., the head of the RA Armed Forces' NBC Defense troops, to return to the city of Ejmiatsin on October 11, 2020, to attend to the burial work of a relative's body.”

A.A. is reportedly a commander and one of Andranik Makaryan’s subordinates. His name was mentioned in protests near the Ejmiatsin military unit in December 2020, where parents of missing soldiers spoke out. They recounted that A.A., Arsen Abgaryan, was one of the fleeing commanders, as he was the only one to return from the battlefield. The Ejmiatsin military unit is known as the 'chemists' regiment. It was after this protest that a criminal case was opened against Lieutenant General Andranik Makaryan.

The parents of the missing soldiers recounted that their children were taken as special forces and that they had no bulletproof vests or helmets because these were not provided to ‘chemists’ by position. Parents of the missing expressed that among the 16 who returned were commanders. Arsen Abgaryan has also been charged.

“Commander A.A. of military unit N, on October 20, 2020, received an order from Deputy Chief of the General Staff A.M. to transport personnel to a location near the village of Keren in the Kovsakan region. He displayed a careless attitude towards his duty, did not ensure the personnel reached the designated endpoint along the indicated route, and violated the requirements of the combat regulations confirmed by the Minister of Defense of Armenia, resulting in severe material consequences due to negligence,” stated the report.