Video: Hearing in Case of Fire That Claimed 15 Soldiers' Lives is Highly Tense; Witness's Answers Infuriate Parents

At the Sevan court today, witness Arsen Soghomonyan is being interrogated in the case of a fire that claimed the lives of 15 servicemen in the military barracks of Azat village. He responds to the questions posed by the parties, but most of the questions remain unanswered, as the witness mainly says he doesn’t remember or does not respond clearly. As a result, the parents of the deceased servicemen become agitated, and the hearing is interrupted periodically.

“I had a black Nokia during my service, I mostly had the phone with me, but on the day of the incident when I went to get water, it was not with me, I asked Taron to put it aside for me. Taron was going to bed, he was in the dining room when I gave it to him. After the incident, I called my mom and dad during the day,” Arsen recounted.

When asked how the phone remained unharmed in such a large blaze, the witness replied that he couldn’t say. Regarding the operation of the stove, the witness mentioned, “There was a time when there was a sheet under the stove, but there was no sheet during that period.”

He described that on the day of the incident, he heard gunshots or explosions coming from outside: “I didn’t hear any fizzing. The fire reached the roof in 5-6 minutes. I had gone to get water; when I came back, Yeghishe was at the entrance door. He was trying to pull off the reshotka with his hand, saying, ‘What have I done? Give me a weapon; I will shoot myself.’”

During the witness Arsen Soghomonyan’s interrogation, tensions frequently flare. The parents get upset at the witness's responses. “I don’t consider it possible to stay and fight in that fire for 12 minutes,” the witness retorted, countering the testimony of defendant Yeghishe Hakobyan, who claimed he fought to extinguish the fire for 15 minutes. “How do you know it’s not possible?” the father of the deceased asked, to which Arsen Soghomonyan did not respond.

A dispute broke out between the parents and the witness, prompting the court to once again announce a recess.

It is worth noting that on January 19, around 01:30, a fire broke out in the barracks of the engineering and sapper battalion of the Armenian Ministry of Defense N military unit located in the Azat village area of Gegharkunik Province, resulting in the deaths of 15 conscript soldiers. Seven soldiers were taken to Vardenis hospital, four of whom were discharged after receiving medical assistance, while three were transferred to Yerevan with serious injuries to the National Burn Center.

Immediately after the incident, the commander of the 2nd Army Corps and seven other senior military officials were dismissed. Hours after the tragedy, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan presented the official narrative during a government meeting, stating that a soldier had poured gasoline on the stove, and when the fire caught him, he threw a 5-liter canister of gasoline towards the barracks in an “instinct of self-defense,” which caused the fire. A criminal case has been initiated under Article 532, Part 4 of the RA Criminal Code (violations of the rules for handling weapons, military ammunition, military equipment, or other items posing greater danger to the environment that has resulted in unintentional death of two or more persons) and proceedings under Article 550, Part 3 of the Criminal Code (military negligence resulting in unintentional death), which has been attached to the main case.

Additionally, it should be emphasized that the parents of the victims do not believe the official narrative. They are convinced that the events were intentional and that their sons were dead before the fire. Many of them recount the tense relationships between the soldiers and the officers.