“The Meeting with the Deputy Minister of Defense was Conducted in an Atmosphere of Mutual Understanding.” Artur Sakunts
00:00, October 23, 2011 | News | Right to Life, Rights of Soldiers/Recruits | Armed Forces
Yesterday, October 21, 2011, members of the Army in Reality Initiative met with the First Deputy Minister of Defense, Davit Tonoyan on the latter’s initiative. As the member of the initiative group, human rights activist, Artur Sakunts told Henaran.am, the meeting was conducted in an atmosphere of mutual understanding.
“There was no single question where the first deputy minister would have a self-defensive approach, it was a healthy dialog,’ said the activist. He added that the MoD feedback towards the presented issues will show whether the MoD wants to cooperate with them and take the necessary steps towards improving the situation.
The Army in Reality raised three issues at the meeting with Davit Tonoyan. “First, we told the deputy minister that we view Vardges Gaspari’s arrest as an infringement on the civil initiative by the authorities and we cannot separate the police and the MoD, especially as the arrest happened after the negative PR and after the directive of Alik Sargsyan. Second,we believe that the Ministry of Defense should react to the words of the Deputy Minister, Vladimir Gasparyan. Third, we presented the demand to receive information; this has already been publicized.” Artur Sakunts told Henaran.am.
According to the activist, Davit Tonoyan approved of and welcomed the activity of the civil initiative. Taking the criticism into consideration, he noted that it is very important for changing the situation in the army. “The assessment was that the grants given to different NGOs are important even from the perspective of the steps taken for improvement in the army. The discussion was free and open from the very beginning,” added Sakunts.
The activist said that the first deputy minister noted that the MoD reaction to the evaluation given by Vladimir Gasparyan will be discussed with Minister SeyranOhanyan.
As to providing information, it was decided to organize a working discussion group and to specify the questions the initiative groups wants information on. Artur Sakunts stressed that the activity of the investigation group, engaged in uncovering the crimes committed in the army, is worrying. “Even if the MoD works very hard, which we don’t know for sure, the evaluation is also based on the work of the preliminary investigation body; if the preliminary investigation goes in the wrong direction and the true offenders are not revealed there will not be any atmosphere of trust towards the army. This was accepted by the deputy as well,” the activist told Henaran.am.
ArturSakunts said that the process should be continued to achieve the implementation of serious improvements in the armed forces and a significant decrease of the number of murders and assaults. “We brought the example of the peacekeeping brigade, which as a model of a professional army has not registered any cases of non-statutory relations or homicides. There is such a model, why not expand it and integrate it in the entire armed forces?” concluded Sakunts.
We should add that there were representatives of OSCE and Open Society Institute at the meeting.
Source: www.henaran.am