The parents of the conscript soldier Palyan Poghosyan, who died on July 26 as a result of burns received on July 17, 2022, have been demanding answers from the state departments for seven months about the cause of their only son’s death. Yesterday, they once again visited the military prosecutor’s office; however, they did not give any answer to the parents, they only said the usual words that the investigation is in progress. In reality, they would not have been summoned to a military prosecution office if they had not closed the Azatan section of the Yerevan-Gyumri highway a few days ago.
“They didn’t tell me the details, all they said was the repetition of the same thing: an examination is being carried out, an investigation is going on,” said Palyan’s father, Jivan Poghosyan, and mentioned that he asked one question at the Military Prosecutor’s Office: “What caused the death? Was it intentional or not intentional? They say that the investigation is going on, when the answers to the examination come, they will tell us.”
Jivan Poghosyan considers it unacceptable that seven months have passed since the incident, but there is no progress. He considers the accident and death of his son to be the consequence of Defense Minister Suren Papikyan’s inaction. “They have been promising a meeting for six-seven months, but they lied always saying ‘this week, next week’, and here we are today,” he said.
The father has distinct questions for Suren Papikyan. “I want him to answer my questions.” By the way, let’s mention that back in 2022, Forrights.am tried to find out from Suren Papikyan why he doesn’t meet Palyan Poghosyan’s parents. The minister answered that a meeting is scheduled in the near future; however, several months have already passed since that answer and no meeting took place.
Neither the Ministry of Defense nor the Territorial Military Commissariat informed Palyan’s parents about his burns. “We found out that the incident happened through a call from comrades in arms,” said his father, Jivan Poghosyan, earlier.
“No commander, no officer told us anything. If they said sooner, maybe I would have arrived sooner and saved my child,” said Palyan’s mother, Galya Ayvazyan.
It is noteworthy that the Ministry officially reported the incident only 8 days after the incident, on July 25. The department reported that Palyan received 2nd degree thermal burns.
Palyan’s parents present terrible details of how their son, who received burns, did not receive first aid for about 5 hours. According to them, Palyan, who received burns at 2 o’clock in the morning, waited for medical assistance until 06:00-07:00 am, because nobody responded to the alarm sounding from the positions for hours. The parents now want to get clarifications: why their son was not provided with proper medical care, and who failed to do their duty? It should be noted that there are no defendants or detainees in Palyan Poghosyan’s case.
Narek Kirakosyan