After the publication of Forrights, S.M., a former prisoner of war, who returned to compulsory service after captivity, was transferred from the Ararat military unit to one of the sanatoriums in Dilijan for psychological support five days ago. The information was passed to us by the soldier’s mother, H. M.

“It has been five days since my son was transferred from Ararat to Dilijan. He has been transferred for five days, but the psychologists have yet to come; they do nothing, they took the children there, but they do not provide treatment. My child has a problem, insomnia, in addition to this he has many bodily injuries. He cannot walk normally. The officers saw that he was in a bad psychological condition and took him to Dilijan,” said the boy’s mother.

Let us remind that S.M., who spent 53 days in captivity, told in an interview with us that he was not psychologically ready to continue his compulsory military service after being a prisoner of war. He returned from captivity on December 14, 2020, along with 44 other captives.

The mother of the former POW says that they applied in writing to the Ministry of Defense and the Prime Minister’s office to release the boy from compulsory military service due to psychological and physical problems, but, according to the parent, the authorities refused to demobilize the soldier with numerous health problems. The mother claims that the boy’s ability to move is endangered because there is a shrapnel in his leg that cannot be removed surgically.

“There is still more than a year until the end of the military service. There is no change in his state of health, there is a shrapnel in the leg, it is a moving shrapnel, he cannot walk. We took him to the Muratsan [hospital] for surgery, but the X-ray showed that it was on the nerve; if we removed it, the child would be disabled. But he was suffering from pain. The rib is damaged, the lung hurts… We do not understand why the child was not released”.

The Prime Minister’s Office said that they could not release her son from the army. They said that the state is not able to give disability status to so many boys. “But my son does not wear military shoes or uniforms, he does not take part in the line-ups. Even his kidney is damaged by a bullet,” said H. M.

The mother says that contact with psychologists alleviates the boy’s problems a little, but the main problems remain unsolved.

The Ministry of Defense has not yet offered any solution to the number of boys returned from captivity who have entered compulsory service. According to our information, there are three such people.

Forrights has written to the Department of Defense about the fate of returned POW’s who continue their military service. We will publish the answer as soon as we receive it.

Narek Kirakosyan

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