“The Defense Ministry accepts the fact that Yurik Broyan has serious health problems and mental illness, but continues to be illegally kept in the Military Police. The Ministry of Defense announces that there is a draft law, according to which soon the servicemen with such problems will not be drafted. Therefore, it turns out that the Defense Ministry violates the rights of Yurik Broyan,” said Broyan’s lawyer, lawyer Hayarpi Sargsyan in a conversation with Forrights, referring to the announcement of the RA Defense Ministry’s spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan.
“At present, the Ministry of Defense has sent to the Prime Minister’s office a draft for ammending the government decision of 12.04.2018. 404, in which the first article of the List of Diseases Determined by the Military Service is edited. It suggests that the illness that is accompanied by all the manifestations of mental retardation be defined as unfit for military service,” Artsrun Hovhannisyan, RA Defense Ministry Spokesman, wrote in his Facebook page.
He states that the RA Ministry of Defense is consistent in that no civilian with a health problem is drafted to the Armed Forces, and the servicemen, who have health problems, return from service healed. However, the Ministry ignores the fact that if Broyan’s health condition was bad at the beginning of the service, it became much worse during the year, and his treatment in Armenia became impossible.
Hayarpi Sargsyan states that the serviceman has irreversible damage and it was imposible to continue his treatment in a civilian hospital and that is the reason he was discharged.
“Why Broyan was moved to the Military Police? The Defense Ministry does not answer to this question. According to the law, he had to be hospitalized in a military hospital because his health became more complicated, but Yurik Broyan is currently unreasonably kept in the Military Police. The Ombudsman’s Office has also documented this fact yesterday,” said the lawyer.
After discharging the soldier, doctors prescribed medications, but the Military Police refused to provide drugs to Broyan because, according to them, doctors did not provide with prescription and they do not have his the medical records. Marine, Yurik’s mother, also alarmed about this yesterday.
“Now, we are dealing here with a “casus”. From one side, he has a health problem that is not curable in Armenia; from the other side, Broyan is a soldier and needs to be discharged. In addition, doctors point out that the amount of drugs has increased, and Yurik needs them more than ever before. At this point, without any medicine, my client’s health is in danger,” said lawyer Sargsyan.
Let us remind that 20-years-old serviceman Broyan has a serious nervous system illness, which doctors cannot diagnose or treat. He has difficulty in movements, constantly has seizures and, as of yesterday, was kept at Nubarashen penitentiary’s mental health center. After a year-long battles, Yurik’s health condition is finally recorded. There is a medical report by which Yurik Broyan was recognized as unfit for military service, so they allowed his mother to bring her son home.
However, after reaching home, the mother learned that the Defense Ministry declared her son a wanted person.
Syuzan Simonyan