Relatives have not heard from Norik Mkrtchyan serving in the Armed Forces of the RA Ministry of Defense since 14 May, 2021.
Iravaban.net spoke with lawyer Lusine Virabyan, who provided new details from the criminal case, which is currently under investigation.
“Two cases have been initiated in connection with official negligence, in connection with which we and no person have a status, that is, neither a suspect nor an accused. There are negligences that have led to serious consequences. And we have another criminal case where Norik is involved as an accused under the article of leaving the military unit voluntarily, although it is not justified in any way, no one has seen Norik escape or leave the military unit voluntarily. Norik was not motivated to leave the military unit voluntarily, he did not even have the appropriate health condition, he had a fever, he had a temperature, because, according to the facts and testimonies, several servicemen had taken him to the positions. His health deteriorated even more over the next three days. We even have a testimony that the colleague says that Norik did not communicate, did not speak. “The situation was such that Norik did not even speak.”
According to Lusine Virabyan, the soldier who rose to the position for the first time with health problems stayed there with the permission of the officials. She notes that the soldier in that condition naturally could not leave the military unit alone without anyone’s help.
“There is no justification for hiding. The soldier’s parent would be very happy if there was hope that his son was healthy and hiding somewhere. We heard whispers, and I talked to the investigator about it, that another request was sent to the Red Cross to make further clarifications regarding the capture. This speaks of the zero responsibility of the state that only a year after the incident they make a new decision to get some information from reliable sources. I repeat, if the state is not responsible for the life and health of every soldier, how does it draft a soldier into the army? This is a vivid example of how the state treats a soldier. The soldier has been missing for a year. There are confrontations, no one from the command staff can answer when he disappeared and under what conditions,” she said.
The lawyer noted that they had no answer from the Armenian office of the International Committee of the Red Cross yet. She stressed that there had been some official and unofficial inquiries in the past and that Norik’s name was not on the list of captured soldiers.
“A few days ago, we learned that the investigator had sent an inquiry again, that is, the version that Norik had left the military unit voluntarily was not grounded. A year was quite a long time to substantiate or not substantiate that version and to change the article related to it,” Luine Virabyan said.
She said that the search announced by the military police is still going on, but there is no result.
“I suspect that the investigation was not carried out properly. There is one reason if the preliminary investigation of the criminal case continues with the hypothesis that he left the military unit voluntarily, that is, certain circumstances of the crime were substantiated in order to nominate him as an accused. That is, if the search was carried out properly, Norik should have been found. Contradiction of state bodies arises. If he is not found, then that soldier is not in the Republic of Armenia, if he did not leave by land or air, he did not even have a passport as a soldier, how could he hide without his parents’ knowledge, without anyone’s support? Well, if an 18-year-old soldier manages to hide from intelligence, then we do not have intelligence,” Lusine Virabyan said.
The lawyer explained that about a month ago there were confrontations between Norik’s mother and the command staff, as the information is very contradictory.
“What they said to the preliminary investigation body and what they said to Norik’s parent during the face-to-face meetings were completely contradictory, because one says Norik has not been there since 14 May, the other says it has been since 16 May, the third says it is from 18. I can say for sure that there will be no result until all the circumstances of the case are clarified, until Norik is found. We will insist until the end that there are many dark corners. It is necessary to find out the circumstances under which Norik was not brought down from the positions, in case he was ill for 4 days. They knew very well that the soldier was not efficient in that condition. According to them, the soldier was taken as a “living wall”. A soldier who does not know any weapons or equipment has been taken just for the account. That is how we treat our soldier, that is why we have this situation,” Lusine Virabyan said.
Hasmik Sargsyan
