Unpunished Commander and Abandoned Family: Human Rights Defender on Soldier's Death
Human rights defender Zhanna Aleksanyan's post:
“Yesterday, the village of Shaki in Sisian mourned the 40th day since the violent death of soldier Argishti Yeghyan. Unspeakable pain and sorrow. A beloved child of the village, the pride of the community. Exceptional knowledge, unique abilities, multilingual. The only son of the family. The Ministry of Defense has not expressed any condolences, even at the level of the unit commander, nor have any explanations been provided. The only condolence message was received from the U.S. ambassador, through a program that Argishti was part of while studying in the U.S. Hours after his death, it was stated that he had committed suicide, and no permission was granted for him to be buried in the Sisian military pantheon. The family has been denied, facing deep disappointment with the Armenian army: ‘Let them commit suicide,’ the mother repeated. An irresponsible state, an irresponsible Ministry of Defense, an unpunished unit commander, and an abandoned family. The number of such families is great in Armenia.”
It is worth mentioning that on May 11, 2022, at around 10:15 AM, conscripted soldier Argishti Armeni Yeghyan, an assistant to the sniper-grenade launcher of the Ministry of Defense’s unit N, committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest using his assigned rifle at the observation post of the combat position within the same unit. Based on sufficient evidence, two of his fellow servicemen have been charged and their detention has been chosen as a preventive measure.