Tweet
HEALTHCARE CONCERNS IN THE RANKS: TWO CONSCRIPTS HOSPITALIZED IN SEPARATE CASES, ONE DIES
HUMAN RIGHTS | 15.01.14 | 16:19
NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
A soldier has died as a result of a disease last week, and another
conscript has been hospitalized in critical condition, with the
incidents having created another occasion to raise concern about
issues in the army in Armenia.
Wednesday, Nagorno Karabakh's Defense Army press service informed that
at early hours of January 15, conscript Hayk Makaryan, 20, died of
a disease (not specified) at one of northern military units. Details
are being investigated.
On January 13 another conscript, 18-year-old Mher Khlghatyan was
transferred to the Central Clinical Military Hospital in Yerevan from
the Vardenis military unit, Armenia.
Khlghatyan's family told the press that they had sent a healthy son to
the army and now have received a physically abused son with numerous
traces of cigarette burns on his body and acute pneumonia. They claim
officers have used force against Khlghatyan.
ArmeniaNow inquiry from Yerevan's Central Clinical Military Hospital
has shown that the young man is in the intensive care unit and that
for a few days his commander has visited him; they refused to reveal
any other details.
The Defense Ministry's (DM) investigative body has filed a criminal
case with charges of an official's careless approach to his service,
whose negligence has yielded grave results and violence against a
subordinate related to the fulfillment of military service duties.
Chief Military Officer of the DM investigative body's press service
Meri Sargsyan told ArmeniaNow that the forensic examination and the
preliminary investigation are ongoing, adding they would provide
additional information by the end of the day should suspects be taken
under arrest.
On Tuesday, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan paid a visit to the
Vardenis unit as part of his field trip. He looked into the case
details, gave instructions to hold an administrative investigation
and said he would take the situation under his personal supervision.
Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor office leader Artur Sakunts says
this is a consequence of incompetent medical assistance, adding that
their research has shown a growing tendency of lethal outcomes in
the army as a result of poor medical assistance.
According to the Assembly's research four out of the 31 deaths in
the army were caused by lack of proper medical assistance.
Sakunts says despite DM representatives' claims that there are no
recruitment issues in the army, that issue does exist and it is done
at any cost, including conscription of young men with health problems.
"The country is facing a situation when military issues are being
solved at any cost even at the expense of using any available resource,
which becomes problematic, because the sphere of defense is unable
to solve all the issues alone. It is conditioned by the authorities'
policy which hits right back at the very vulnerable defense sphere,"
says Sakunts.
http://www.armenianow.com/society/human_rights/51356/armenia_military_army_conscripts_health_death
HUMAN RIGHTS | 15.01.14 | 16:19
NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
A soldier has died as a result of a disease last week, and another
conscript has been hospitalized in critical condition, with the
incidents having created another occasion to raise concern about
issues in the army in Armenia.
Wednesday, Nagorno Karabakh's Defense Army press service informed that
at early hours of January 15, conscript Hayk Makaryan, 20, died of
a disease (not specified) at one of northern military units. Details
are being investigated.
On January 13 another conscript, 18-year-old Mher Khlghatyan was
transferred to the Central Clinical Military Hospital in Yerevan from
the Vardenis military unit, Armenia.
Khlghatyan's family told the press that they had sent a healthy son to
the army and now have received a physically abused son with numerous
traces of cigarette burns on his body and acute pneumonia. They claim
officers have used force against Khlghatyan.
ArmeniaNow inquiry from Yerevan's Central Clinical Military Hospital
has shown that the young man is in the intensive care unit and that
for a few days his commander has visited him; they refused to reveal
any other details.
The Defense Ministry's (DM) investigative body has filed a criminal
case with charges of an official's careless approach to his service,
whose negligence has yielded grave results and violence against a
subordinate related to the fulfillment of military service duties.
Chief Military Officer of the DM investigative body's press service
Meri Sargsyan told ArmeniaNow that the forensic examination and the
preliminary investigation are ongoing, adding they would provide
additional information by the end of the day should suspects be taken
under arrest.
On Tuesday, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan paid a visit to the
Vardenis unit as part of his field trip. He looked into the case
details, gave instructions to hold an administrative investigation
and said he would take the situation under his personal supervision.
Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor office leader Artur Sakunts says
this is a consequence of incompetent medical assistance, adding that
their research has shown a growing tendency of lethal outcomes in
the army as a result of poor medical assistance.
According to the Assembly's research four out of the 31 deaths in
the army were caused by lack of proper medical assistance.
Sakunts says despite DM representatives' claims that there are no
recruitment issues in the army, that issue does exist and it is done
at any cost, including conscription of young men with health problems.
"The country is facing a situation when military issues are being
solved at any cost even at the expense of using any available resource,
which becomes problematic, because the sphere of defense is unable
to solve all the issues alone. It is conditioned by the authorities'
policy which hits right back at the very vulnerable defense sphere,"
says Sakunts.
http://www.armenianow.com/society/human_rights/51356/armenia_military_army_conscripts_health_death