Artur Sakunts, Chairman of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor addressed the unfortunate situation in the army on his Facebook page: “The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, President of the Republic, is responsible to appoint the Minister of Defense, as well as the Chief of Police, and the Director of National Security Service.

The 4th hearing concerning the case of Artak Nazaryan, who according to initial reports committed suicide in one of the border bases of Chinari, was held in Tavush Region Common Law Court.  The first three court sessions did not take place for some subjective reasons, allowing the victim’s relatives to claim that it was done intentionally, to discourage and wear the relatives out because of the difficulty of traveling to Berd from the capital city, of Yerevan.     

Human rights defenders-participants from “Army without Murderers” round-table discussion, held on September 14, are going to present their recommendations over amendments in the Army to RA Ministry of Defense within the upcoming week.

Today Sakunts, Head of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, spoke about corruption and provision of human rights protection in the army within the frames of the discussion “Situation in the Armenian Army”.

Recent charges by the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Prosecutor General against 20-year-old Manvel Hazroyan, (who was previously sentenced to life in prison for killing 4 and wounding 3 soldiers in the Jabrail Army Unit), are unlawful, in Lawyer Edmon Marukyan’s opinion.

Today, the Army without Murderers Initiatives commenced its protest at the RA Government Building, moved towards the general prosecutor’s office, then to the RA Presidential Residence, before they returned to the government building. 

On July 16, 2011, Robert Hovhannisyan applied to Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, requesting assistance over the protection of his son Rafik Hovhannisyan’s rights.

As we had previously notified, today a closed meeting was held with RA human rights defenders by the initiative of the NA Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs, where army-related issues were discussed.

The protest of the “Black-dressed Army” just started at the government building, which has more people than the previous protest. Besides the parents of killed soldiers, there are also concerned young people, representatives of NGOs, and human rights activists.

On September 6, 2011, “We won’t keep silent” Youth Initiative posted a video on the internet, which touched upon the recent incident that  occurred to Ararat village native soldier, 20-year-old Hovhannes Vardan Vardanyan, who served in the army.

Today, on September 7, at about 7 am, the subsequent death case was recorded on the military baseline of Askeran.

Today two more officials were arrested over the case of term soldier Aghasi Abrahamyan’s death case in NK National Army #N militay unit. 

During the establishment of the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the Armenian Army has undergone a difficult development phase since the cease-fire of Artsakh war.

In a meeting with journalists, Artur Sakunts, Head of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, referred to the statistics of death cases in the army, pursuant to which, the rate of the death cases due to violation of cease-fire rule is greater that the deaths during peace period.