The court ruled that the conscript charged with avoidance of military service is to undergo an additional examination
17:48, March 10, 2018 | News, Own news | Rights of Soldiers/Recruits | Armed Forces
On February 15, 2018 the Court of General Jurisdiction of Lori Province ruled to assign a complex forensic and military medical examination in connection with the case of conscript T. M., who did not leave to start military service because of disagreeing with the decision of the Central Medical Commission.
The RA MoD Central Military Commission qualified the conscript (he had been granted a deferment twice before) as fit for military service first on July 28, 2016 and then on January 30, 2017 despite the fact that he had the same health issues as he did before. However, the conscript disagreed with the decisions and therefore did not leave to start military service.
T. M. and his representative S. Soghomonyan are disputing at the Administrative Court the decisions of the Central Medical Commission on qualifying the conscript as fit for military service with some restrictions.
During the preliminary investigation of the case initiated on the grounds of avoiding military service on September 7, 2016, the forensic examinations assigned in connection with T. M.’s health issues failed to determine when the disease appeared; however, it was recorded that the health issues on the basis of which the conscript had previously been granted deferments persisted, and no health improvement was noticed.
Despite this, the body conducting the proceedings, without assigning a military medical examination on the basis of the forensic expert’s conclusion, a charge was brought against T. M., and the case was sent to the court with an indictment.
Incidentally, the charge was based on the testimony of the same doctor who qualified the conscript as fit for military service and whose decision the conscript disagreed with.
In his testimony CMC cardiologist and expert Hayk Hovsepyan indicated that T. M. was to be drafted on the basis of the results of the examination. It is obvious that the doctor could not contradict his own decision in his testimony and insist on the opposite.
During the preliminary examination of the case at the Court of General Jurisdiction of Lori Province, on February 15, 2018 HCA Vanadzor advocate S. Soghomonyan filed a motion to assign a complex forensic and military medical examination. The motion was supported by the statement that “the evidence obtained during the preliminary investigation is insufficient and incomplete and does not substantiate that T. M. avoided being drafted without lawful grounds.”
Despite prosecuting attorney S. Arakelyan’s objection, the court upheld the motion and highlighted it in its ruling that “assigning an examination can be of crucial importance in solving the case justly”.