Over the past year, many parks in the city of Charentsavan have been renamed after boys killed during the 44-day war. One of such parks is dedicated to Armen Chobanyan, who was posthumously awarded the Combat Service Medal and the Combat Cross Order.
Armen served in Martuni 3, is one of the 73 soldiers who went missing during the war during moving to Hadrut, where he was killed. We have written about this case and informed that, back in April of this year, the former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army, Lieutenant General Jalal Harutyunyan was interrogated as a witness in the criminal case initiated in connection with this incident. On February 13, the commander of the 18th Rifle Division of the Defense Army, Major General Karen Arstamyan was charged with Part 4 of Article 375 of the RA Criminal Code (inaction of the government during the war). The signature on not leaving was used as a precautionary measure against him.
Although the investigation into the case is ongoing, the parents of the boys who died in recent months have not seen any progress and no longer hope that the culprits can be identified and brought to justice by legal means.
Armen Chobanyan’s father, Ashot Chobanyan, is in the military. He says that when his son was going to serve, he was calm because Armen was an organized and quick-witted boy in difficult situations
During the war, the father was in service in Omar and the son in Martuni 3.
“Well, I told him what a parent should say to his child: I told him not to get upset, keep his spirit up, but to be careful, to do everything thoughtfully. He also said, ‘Pa, it’s okay, don’t worry, you take care of yourself, you know I can’t live without you.’ “I said you cannot do without me, I cannot do without you,” said the father of the killed soldier.
He mentions that the search for his son lasted for about five months and during that time he hoped that his son was alive, he was just hiding somewhere. “Who would have thought, who would have imagined in life that he would bury his son with his own hands? No parent would… Everyone is like me…These 18, 19 year old boys knew better the price of their home, the price of their homeland, than the people who behaved differently, who were the children ‘s superiors, were very passive, failed a lot in their jobs,” says Ashot Chobanyan, noting that his son and the other 72 boys fought to the last breath, ruling out the possibility of even being taken prisoner.
Ani Gevorgyan