Armenian rights defenders point to increase in soldiers' non-combat casualties in 2018

The increase in the number of non-combat casualties among Armenian servicemen was a consequence of the impunity of the command and the poor training of technical and medical services of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

According to the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Civil Assembly (HCA), in the first nine months of 2018, the Armenian Armed Forces and the Nagorno-Karabakh Defence Army lost 44 militaries. Eight suicides and five murders were recorded among the non-combat losses.

In 2018, the share of non-combat losses increased against 2017, Arthur Sakunts, the head of the HCA's Vanadzor office, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. He believes that the main reason for this is the lack of proper training of the technical and medical services of the MoD. "And after the 'velvet' revolution, there is no answer on whether any steps have been taken to reduce the count of non-combat losses," Mr Sakunts has explained.

"The internal issues remain the main problems. After the 'velvet' revolution, the MoD's head was replaced. We still see no other changes," Zhanna Aleksanyan, a rights defender and the head of the NGO "Journalists for Human Rights", has stated.

She believes that the impunity of senior officers is the main reason for non-combat losses.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 1, 2019 at 11:23 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.