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The human rights activists are quite concerned by the incident at Yerevan Garrison Military Hospital, who believe that no serious oversight in relation to the soldier is conducted neither at military units nor in hospitals.

In a talk with GALA reporter by referring to the incident, military expert, human rights activist Ruben Martirosyan stated, “Firstly, it is natural that the oversight is lacking and secondly, I have subsequently stated that the statutory relations in our army in fact have outgrown into, so called, gang relations. Soldiers go and wear military uniforms, but they behave as street guys and they do not respect our statute, the military code and charter and it all begins with officers. ”

According to the human rights activist, it is the officers, who lead the soldiers by such a psychology. “That one cannot betray, a respected guy should not do cleaning, a respected guy should not be “broken” … and the same incident should have occurred in the hospital due to everyday issues”, said R. Martirosyan.

The human rights antagonist points out that the soldier should serve in the army not by unwritten laws, but the opposite.

Chairman of Helsinki Citizens; Assembly Vanadzor, human rights activist Artur Sakunts has different concerns and assessments regarding the incident. Following the course of events as well as the statements issued by the RA MoD Press Secretary Artsrun Hovhannisyan, he has the below-mentioned opinion.

“In any case there was an incident, as a result of which, 5 soldiers had to run away from hospital and not only that, moreover, they left the territory by all possible means. This happened right after the officers of the Military Police Special Division arrived in the hospital. Thus, the soldiers had to run away in respect to that arrival, this already does not speak of a good sign”.

According to Artur Sakunts, a question rises what was the conduct or the approach of the MP officials, when the soldiers, well aware that their runaway from the military unit (hospital) would entail consequences, nonetheless, went for it.

“With all of the versions, there was a problem which leaded to an outgrown conflict. There can be no other question here: soldiers were placed in hospital due to health issues, if at least five people run out and if those were the hospital soldiers, then how can a sick soldier leave the ward (at night they go out in those clothes, I mean not in pajamas but in their military uniforms), whereas, the incident happened during the sleep time, thus, who were those patients?”, continued the human rights defender. In his opinion, an investigation should be conducted whether the soldiers had health issues, since, by Sakunts’ words, he has serious doubts that many of them placed in hospital did not have health issues and were there for certain purposes. There are corruption risks and concerns here. The relevant responsible should conduct thorough investigations in this direction, otherwise, it will mean there is a tendency to conceal the truth, believes the human rights defender.

A. Sakunts hopes that he will be able to meet with all those soldiers with health issues and their family members, who may unveil what had actually happened in the military hospital. In addition, according to the human rights activist, the conduct of the MP officers is at least strange, who have not yet issued a statement whether or not there are arrestees over the incident. All this gives grounds to assume they want to conceal the case.

Source:  http://www.galatv.am/news/view/zinvor-hospital_03.html