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After the dismissal of the 3 high-ranking military officials of the Ministry of Defense, namely Alik Mirzabekyan, Deputy Minister of Defense, Komitas Muradyan, Head of Communications and Automated Control Systems Department of the troops of the RA Armed Forces, and Arshak Karapetyan, Head of the General Staff Intelligence Department of the RA Armed Forces, the public expected that they would face serious charges. After the dismissals above, people also cherished a hope that the April hostilities made the authorities take a more sober look at things, and the dismissals would continue, at least for those persons who held public offices and made millions while at wartime the army is in need, as it turned out.

In fact, it is not the authorities that came to their senses, but it was Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan who brought the public to its sense. As reported yesterday by a mass medium, at the closed discussion at the National Assembly, in response to the question of deputies about the expensive real estate purchased abroad by officers, generals and the Minister himself, he said that the information spread about him was absolute disinformation, and as for the property of generals, they have acquired whatever they own through the businesses they set up for years and not at the expense of the army or the state budget.

“Seyran Ohanyan tells an absolute lie by saying that the personal wealth of the high-ranking officers above has not been generated from the funds embezzled from the defense budget. Nothing can be generated from the air or nothing. One should not find himself in such an awkward situation to support the corrupt system”, human rights defender Artur Sakunts, Chairman of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, said in his interview to ‘Aravot’ daily. The confidence in facing no responsibility in such an absurd situation indicates, according to Sakunts, that no criminal proceedings will be initiated and no investigation and examination will be carried out. “It is regrettable to see such an attitude on the part of the Defense Minister, who knows better than anyone else how many casualties the armed forces sustained as a consequence of such unsolved and continuous corrupt crimes that received no legal assessment. Mr. Minister probably does not consider the promotion and patronage of incompetent officers, as well as setting up and extension of businesses by generals by abusing their official positions to constitute corruption. He forgets that numerous criminal proceedings have already revealed facts of embezzlement of both funds (salaries, benefits, purchases) and materials (fuel, equipment, ammunition), and under such proceedings, only the immediate perpetrators were found guilty rather than the high-ranking commanders issuing such illegal instructions and orders. Should we recall them one by one, or do they think that the public has short memory?”

And in her interview, Anahit Bakhshyan, a member of ‘Heritage’ (‘Zharangutyun’) party, said that all the generals and not those dismissed, but rather most of the generals responsible for rear and armaments, amassed their wealth at the expense of the army. “Seyran Ohanyan says it was not at the expense of the army and they had set up businesses, but such businesses were set up by the funds of the army. They abused their position by all the possible means; the dugouts are not firm and collapse and cause the death of 2 soldiers. This reality sounds cruel, and they still say calmly that the generals have not got rich at the expense of the army. As for me, I considered Seyran Ohanyan a man of army, a disciplined person, but he ruined my respect when I learnt about the needs of our army procured by the entire Armenian nation, so that our soldiers do not get wet through under the rain, wear normal shoes and have night vision devices at their disposal. Ohanyan is responsible for all this.”

The Defense Minister also said that the dismissed officials would not be prosecuted because their activities were not criminal.

“Failing to initiate criminal proceedings is indicative of one thing; he also supports them, they are in the same chain; if the chain is torn anywhere, the criminal proceedings would reveal something. Whereas, who should reveal? Serzh Sargsyan? It is him who assigns them all. Therefore, Serzh Sargsyan is responsible for all this, for the collapsed dugout”, said Bakhshyan. She recalled the RA President’s statements issued the day before at the meeting with the Public Council, “I’m not weak-willed”, “we cannot bring back the year of 1937”. “Yesterday, the president sought to convince them that we have everything and only lack unity. I was surprised that the President urged them to come out and preach unity among people. So, come out to the people, dear Mr. President, and hear what people say. We know what we have; we have authorities that are not with the people. They are unaware of the moods of the people. As Serzh Sargsyan’s words did not correspond to his deeds, or Seyran Ohanyan and all the generals and the government will not stand by the people, this gap, which generates hatred, will lead us to nothing good, and our dear state will suffer. We do not trust these authorities and have no idea what is going to happen to us tomorrow.”

Referring to Seyran Ohanyan’s statements, Artur Sakunts noted that such assessments and approaches attested to the absolute impunity and irresponsibility. According to Sakunts, the only strange and obvious thing is that even in the context of the 4-day April war, such impunity and irresponsibility showed its entire cynicism that remained unperceivable for many people. The materialistic philosophy “Not a single inch to the enemy, not a single inch to the foe!” applies not only to relations with the similarly corrupt authorities of Azerbaijan, but also with the citizens of the seized and appropriated state. Such statements should make it obvious to the public that not only are these authorities unready to suffer any hardship and make any significant contributions to counter the external threats of the country, but also again put the entire burden of addressing such threats and hardships on the shoulders of the RA citizens who are already dispossessed and impoverished. Such an attitude shows that Serzh Sargsyan’s authorities have not come to their senses and cannot ever do so. For these authorities, the human suffering, hardships, losses and death are absolutely not worth a penny both in peacetime and in wartime.”

aravot.am