20-years-old Yezidi soldier Yurik Broyan’s sufferings seemed to be ended. Yurik has a serious illness of nervous system, which doctors cannot diagnose or treat. He moves with difficulty, has constant seizures and is kept in Nubarashen penitentiary’s mental health center. After a one year long battles, his health condition was finally officially recorded. There is a medical report by which Yurik Broyan has been recognized unfit for military service.

Today the doctors finally let his mother, Marine Broyan, to take her son home. However, after reaching home, she was informed that her son was wanted by the Ministry of Defense.

“The serviceman was not going to return to the military unit after his treatment,” Artsrun Hovhannisyan, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defense, wrote to his Facebook page several hours ago.

Based on the telephone message No. 562 of 07/15/2019 by the National Committee for the Protection of Mental Health to transfer the private Broyan from the medical facility to the military unit, the Military Police representatives arrived to the medical center but found out that he was no longer there; he was discharged from the hospital and went to unknown direction. Military police contacted the soldier’s mother. The latter replied that her son was not going to appear in the military unit. Yuri Broyan was transferred to the National Center for Mental Health on June 6. On the occasion of the incident, the RA Ministry of Defense military forces take measures to return the soldier to the military unit.”

“A week ago, doctors said that they were discharging Broyan,” said the Journalists for Human Rights NGO lawyer Hayarpi Sargsyan, “I asked the head of the Nubarashen penitentiary mental health center to postpone the discharge a little so that the Ministry of Defense could have time to organize his dismissal from military service. They agreed, then called me on Monday saying that they were letting Broyan go and would send the papers to the Ministry, we could take him home. But this morning Marine Broyan telephoned me and said that the military police were looking for her son. “

She considers the note by the Defense Ministry spokesman misinformation

“Firstly, he did not receive treatment, he suffered irreversible damage, and the spokesman creates misunderstanding in society. Secondly, he did not go in an unknown direction: everyone in the Ministry is aware he was discharged. I personally talked to the Chief of the Military Police, and everyone in the military police station were aware that he had gone home with his mother. If they called the mother and told her that her son was being discharged, what did she have to do: take him to the military police? He was to be taken to the hospital and, from there, to the military medical examination, and, since it was clear that he was not fitted for military service, he was to go home,” said Broyan’s lawyer.

From the announcement of the Defense Minister’s spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan, those who are unaware of Yurik’s history may think that they were dealing not with a young man who has been subjected to ill-treatment, not to a sick, beaten person at the military police or military unit but with a malicious deserter. Whereas, Yurik does not even understand what is going on around him. He is under the influence of strong medicines that help alleviate the head shakings of the young person at least for a few hours.

Broyan’s mother, Marine tells:

“They grabbed my son from my hands and, while he was asleep, took him to the military police station. I took him home, bathed him: the doctor had told me to be careful, he was completely unconscious, could not feel anything. I put him in a taxicab while he continued to remain asleep, took him home, we took him out of the car hugging him. For a moment he woke up, I fed and bathe him, and brought him back to Muratsan hospital. Nobody accepted him. A tall, big doctor came out and said, “I’ve checked your kid, everything is normal, take him to the military unit.” And they took him to the military police. Tomorrow they will see whether he is fit or not [for military service]. They did not allow me to put the medications given to me in the psychiatric hospital with him. They said, they could not give him those medications. The child was in a very bad state. “

We asked human rights activist Zhanna Alexanyan, who has kept Yurik Broyan in her sight for a year, to express her opinion over this bizarre situation.

“Today in the courtyard of the Muratsan hospital, the Defense Ministry has created an atmosphere of terror for the sick soldier and his mother threatening to take the helpless soldier to Martakert: moving him to Martakert is a real threat. It was in Martakert that the sick boy was tortured. This is vengeance against a sick soldier. The Defense Ministry insisted at the highest level that Yurik was faking his illness, but the forensic psychiatric examination did not confirm their hypothesis. The ordinary soldier does not have any value in the army, they treat him the way they please. Would they like their children be treated the same way? Of course, not. Nothing has changed: we are facing the same inhuman attitude [towards ordinary soldiers].”

Syuzan Simonyan

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