A resident of Yerevan, who serves in one of the military units of the Martakert region of the Defense Army, soldier K. is being sued. The boy is charged with Article 333 of the Criminal Code for giving false testimony against the officer G. of the military unit. In fact, this charge, according to K.’s mother, was the punishment of K. He has dared to tell his mother and later the military command and the investigators that the officer beat and regularly raped him. After this confession disgracing the Armenian Army, which took place in April, a criminal case was filed in the third garrison investigation department of the Investigative Committee of Armenia on the fact that sexual actions against K. were carried out.
G. denied that such actions have taken place. He told Forrights.am several months ago that K. had slandered him for one purpose — to get released from the military service.
Very quickly the case turned against K. himself. He turned from a victim to an accused. He was kept in the military police for a few months where, as he later told, under pressure, they forced him to write confession testimonies.
After the preliminary investigation, however, when the case entered the court of Stepanakert, the serviceman refused his pre-trial testimonies and informed the court that he did not accept the charge completely.
His young man struggles to be moved to Yerevan as he is psychologically depressed in Artsakh’s military unit and every minute spent there is a potential danger that the boy will be subjected to new humiliations by the commanding officers, officer G. and his other co-servicemen. He has applied to all the relevant structures, from the Defense Ministry to the Human Rights Defender and the General Prosecutor’s Office. At the last court hearing, which took place on October 4, the court abolished the precautionary measure to submit him to the command control.
Soon he will be transferred to another military unit. This information was transmitted to Forrights.am by lawyer Hayarpi Sargsyan, advocate of K.
In the Stepanakert court, she has found her client in a bad state, with hairless spots on his head. The situation has intensified while he was in the military police. The medical facilities in Artsakh have not even conducted elementary examinations, and Hayarpi Sargsyan not only has to prove that her client is being accused unjustly but also to deal with his health problems and fight for at least proper medical examination of the soldier.
“My client has skin, heart and other problems. He was taken to a hospital in Stepanakert, some tests were conducted, but there was no positive shift in my client’s health condition. In response to my various writings, I received information that my client has been examined properly and no medical intervention was needed, that no such illness has been detected for taking him to Armenia. Skin problems are impossible not to notice. I see them become more dramatic, but they tell me there is no such problem. I cannot consider it an objective conclusion, that’s why I have demanded that a forensic examination be carried out by the RA Forensic Center,” says the lawyer.
K. was also examined by the Military Medical Commission of Artsakh. “K. was told that he had arrhythmia , but they also said they could not put it down in writing,” said Hayarpi Sargsyan. “The defendant stated in the court that they keep taking him to the hospital, but do not take any tissues from his skin for testing; the just tell him that there are acnes on the face, and the heart test device did not work, so they could not do any examination.”
Actually, Artsakh medical institutions are not seriously dealing with the health problems of servicemen, they do not have the opportunity to do simple tests.
Hayarpi Sargsyan petitioned the court to void the preventive measure of her defendant (to put him under control of the command of the military unit) as there is no basis for it envisaged in the Criminal Procedure Code. One of the petitions of Hayarpi Sargsyan regarding the forensic examination the court rejected but satisfied the second petition and eliminated K.’s measure of restraint. Now the court will send a note to the appropriate authorities to take actions to ensure the security of the serviceman. He is likely to be moved to another military unit, but for a few days the young man will still be in the receiving-distributing station of the military police.
During the court session, K. informed that he did not accept the charge completely. The trial was postponed until November 21.
K.’s mother is scared for her son’s safety. She told us that the officer who raped her son spreads rumors deliberately creating bad opinion about her son in the military unit. She told us that soldiers are coming to her son regularly creating unpleasant incidents.
“In Khojalu hospital, where my son was, they brought a boy who stood up and said: ” Hey! Are you still alive? You’ll see what we’ll do with you!” My boy lives in fear. The military police, the security guards do control, but we do not know what will happen in the new military unit. Maybe G. has his own people there? There have been such unpleasant incidents two or three times already,” says the troubled mother.
Syuzan Simonyan