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Killed soldier's family turned back as dozens stage protest in Yerevan
NEWS | 18.05.13 | 16:56
Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, Police Chief Vladimir
Gasparyan and other representatives of the top brass personally talked
the family of an army conscript killed recently by a fellow soldier
out of taking his body to the capital as a sign of protest as the
procession was blocked on the Sevan-Yerevan highway earlier on
Saturday.
Lyuks Stepanyan, 19, was shot dead by another conscript in a military
unit in the northeastern Tavush province of Armenia on May 15 in an
incident in which another soldier, Hrachya Sargsyan, was seriously
wounded in the head and is now said to be in a coma at a military
hospital in Yerevan.
David Khachatryan, a 20-year-old conscript from the same military
unit, was arrested on suspicion of committing murder `in a way
dangerous for the life of many people'.
The parents of the killed soldier, reportedly infuriated by the lack
of due attention from the military authorities in the wake of the
incident and doubting that an impartial investigation will be
conducted,, planned to take the body of their son to the government
building in Yerevan where scores of civil rights activists and mothers
of other servicemen killed in the ranks were holding a protest today.
The police, however, blocked their way and the high-ranking officials
who came to meet them reportedly managed to convince them to return to
their native village of Verin Getashen to organize Stepanyan's funeral
there. Some clashes between relatives of the killed soldier and police
officers were reported in the process.
Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said Minister Ohanyan
had assured the Stepanyans that an unbiased and thorough investigation
will be conducted and that all those responsible for the deadly
incident will be punished. He also denied that the military
authorities had not given the killed soldier's family due attention
after the death of their son.
http://armenianow.com/news/46210/armenia_soldier_funeral_protest_action
NEWS | 18.05.13 | 16:56
Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, Police Chief Vladimir
Gasparyan and other representatives of the top brass personally talked
the family of an army conscript killed recently by a fellow soldier
out of taking his body to the capital as a sign of protest as the
procession was blocked on the Sevan-Yerevan highway earlier on
Saturday.
Lyuks Stepanyan, 19, was shot dead by another conscript in a military
unit in the northeastern Tavush province of Armenia on May 15 in an
incident in which another soldier, Hrachya Sargsyan, was seriously
wounded in the head and is now said to be in a coma at a military
hospital in Yerevan.
David Khachatryan, a 20-year-old conscript from the same military
unit, was arrested on suspicion of committing murder `in a way
dangerous for the life of many people'.
The parents of the killed soldier, reportedly infuriated by the lack
of due attention from the military authorities in the wake of the
incident and doubting that an impartial investigation will be
conducted,, planned to take the body of their son to the government
building in Yerevan where scores of civil rights activists and mothers
of other servicemen killed in the ranks were holding a protest today.
The police, however, blocked their way and the high-ranking officials
who came to meet them reportedly managed to convince them to return to
their native village of Verin Getashen to organize Stepanyan's funeral
there. Some clashes between relatives of the killed soldier and police
officers were reported in the process.
Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said Minister Ohanyan
had assured the Stepanyans that an unbiased and thorough investigation
will be conducted and that all those responsible for the deadly
incident will be punished. He also denied that the military
authorities had not given the killed soldier's family due attention
after the death of their son.
http://armenianow.com/news/46210/armenia_soldier_funeral_protest_action