29 Military Personnel Deaths Recorded in Armed Forces

During the first half of 2019, there were 29 recorded deaths of military personnel in the Armed Forces of Armenia and the Artsakh Defense Army, of which 8 were conscripted soldiers, 13 were contract soldiers, 3 were non-commissioned officers, and 5 were officers, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Of the 29 military personnel, 11 deaths were connected to military service, while 18 occurred in circumstances unrelated to military service.

In the same time period of 2018, there were 31 recorded deaths of military personnel in the Armed Forces of Armenia and the Artsakh Defense Army, with 19 related to military service and 12 unrelated. This indicates a decrease of 2 in total deaths, with a decrease of 8 or 42% in cases related to military service, while unfortunately, deaths unrelated to military service increased by 6 or 50%.

During this year, deaths connected to military service show the following patterns, compared to the same time period last year: 2 were the result of enemy actions (5 in 2018), 3 were from suicides or attempts (6), 0 from violations of weapon use regulations (1), 1 from illness (2), 0 from landmine explosions (1), 3 from homicides (1), 1 from accidents (1), 1 from service-related traffic incidents (1), and 0 from violations of combat service regulations (1).

The reasons for deaths unrelated to military service are as follows, compared to the same period last year: 10 resulted from non-service-related traffic incidents (6 in 2018), 7 from illness (5), 0 from accidents (1), and 1 from suicide or an attempted suicide (0).