In an interview with Forrights.am, Gagik Melkonyan, father of conscript Sargis Melkonyan, raised the alarm that his son was subjected to violence by the command staff in the Kapan military unit.
“On December 31, he was on duty at the checkpoint. He was talking to some soldier; the commander saw him from afar and approached. The soldier to whom he was talking to saw the commander and ran away. The commander came and grabbed my son by the collar, asked who it was, my son said he didn’t know him. He was the regiment commander, Hakob Geryan. He ordered him to understand who it was in half an hour, go to headquarters and report to him,” the soldier’s father said in an interview with Forrights.am.
Conscript Sargis Melkonyan has been serving for 1.5 years. The father said that his son has health problems; he went to serve with restrictions under Article 7G, he has mental health problems. Emphasizing this circumstance, he notes that his son was beaten by the regiment commander at the military unit headquarters.
“Half an hour after the order, my son goes and says that he couldn’t find the soldier. The commander gets up, pulls him by the collar and hits him hard, after which my son hits him. I don’t encourage what my son did, \ but the commander could have resolved this issue in a more appropriate way. After that hit, five or six officers who were there attacked my son and beat him. My son said that when he fell to the ground, Geryan was kicking and crushing him. My friend calls me and says that Sak hit the commander, after that my son calls me, I say, “Hey boy, who do you think you are to hit the commander?”. I don’t know what happened. Then I find out that the commander hit him. Before that, he cursed, my son said that the commander was insulting his personality,” the soldier’s father said in an interview with Forrights.am, noting that his son did not receive appropriate medical care after being abused, but was transferred to prison, a civilian one.
“They transfer my son to the hospital. Then I talk to my son again, he says, they are taking me to the Kanaz hospital for a checkup. It’s already the third day of the month, and we think that they will bring him to Yerevan, we will go, we will see him. Then he becomes unreachable. Then a judge calls me and says that Sargis has been arrested and transferred to the Goris penitentiary.
The judge held a trial without a psychiatrist’s conclusion. My son is in a serious mental state, he has problems, he entered the service with 7G. We went to the Sisian hospital, they told us there that they did not have a psychiatrist. We suggested that they take him to Kanaz, to a psychiatrist, but he never reached Kanaz: they came, put chains on his hands and took him to the Goris prison. There is a special disciplinary battalion for soldiers, there are special sanctions, why did they take him to the prison? He has physical injuries from beating, but we cannot see him,” he said.
Sargis Melkonyan’s father demands that his son be released, undergo an appropriate medical examination and be given the opportunity to continue his service.
The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia informed Forrights.am that the soldier was detained for two months.
“On December 31, 2024, at around 19:00, a criminal proceeding was initiated in the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia under Part 2 of Article 519 and Part 1 of Article 527 of the Criminal Code in connection with the case of a conscript of the N military unit of the RA Ministry of Defense who used violence against the commander of the same military unit and then caused bodily injuries to himself. During the preliminary investigation, a public criminal prosecution was initiated against the serviceman. A petition to apply detention as a preventive measure against the accused was submitted to the Syunik Region Court of First Instance, which was granted. Detention was applied to the latter as a preventive measure for a period of 2 months. Forensic medical examinations have been ordered. The preliminary investigation is ongoing,” the spokesperson for the Investigative Committee said. The law enforcement agency does not relay any information about the commander beating beating Gagik Melkonyan’s son.
Narek Kirakosyan
