Arthur Babayan, who returned from captivity in Azerbaijan with psychological and physical problems, was taken to a position. The soldier’s mother told forrights.am about this, noting that her son continues to live with these problems after captivity.
forrights.am previously has reported that Private Babayan, after returning from Baku, remained in the military police for about 10 days and was transferred to the Chambarak military unit to continue his service in the army. The parents warned that their son’s health condition was incompatible with the service.
Human rights activist Zhanna Aleksanyan also referred to Arthur Babayan’s issue during a discussion at the Meda Center:
“Instead of taking the soldier back from captivity without taking him to a psychological center because he was tortured in Baku, he was taken to the border. What do they reform now when they take a sick soldier and make him stand at the border? How does he protect the border?” she said.
Arthur Babayan did not receive rehabilitation treatment after returning from captivity on February 7. In response to our inquiry, we were also informed about this by the Ministry of Defense, noting that the serviceman does not have such a need. Meanwhile, Arthur’s parents claim the opposite.
“Have they studied my child’s psychology? Are they interested in what is happening to my child?” He has a lot of psychological problems: when he came on vacation, the neighbors did not recognize him; they asked, is this your Arthur? His face looks normal, but he makes such movements! And, he is getting thinner and thinner, I sent them a handsom boy, but now what they give me? I do not know what to do. I call the ministry but they do not answer the phone. There is a normal officer, he sometimes spends time talking to the child psychologically.
When he came on vacation, there were balloons the children bought for their brother; one of them exploded, you should see how he jumped up, we thought something happened. All these voices affect him. I want the Ministry of Defense to listen to me and tell me if my child can get better, or demobilize hima and let him come home. “My child can not serve in this condition,” says the mother, emphasizing that the boy’s legs are terribly swollen, also, he has severe body aches, which are the aftermath of the days spent in Baku.
To our question whether Arthur Babayan’s health condition is compatible with the service, they said from the Ministry of Defense that the boy is under the control of the medical service in the military unit. At the same time, Arthur’s mother alerted that the boy had contracted bilateral pneumonia some time ago, and was taken to a civilian hospital only after his requests.
“I called to ask that my son be taken out of the military unit and taken to Karmir (Chambarak) hospital. He was suffering from a terrible double pneumonia. He is coughing terribly, as if his lungs are about to come out of the mouth,” says the mother.
Narek Kirakosyan