The Soldier's Family to Appeal to the European Court: 'The Murderer is the Army, the Kids Collected Money for Water'

In the village of Azat in Gegharkunik, Artem Grigoryan, the grandfather of Aram Manukyan, a soldier who died in a fire at a military barracks, told Haykakan Jraparak that they do not intend to forgive or tolerate those responsible. The family plans to appeal to the European Court.

"I was in the morgue, and according to the information, the child burned in the position he was lying in. They did not get up from where they were; they burned in the position they slept in. When they say they got out, it's a lie, a fairy tale. The murderer is the army. From among them. I do not know if it was a specific officer," the father stated.

He also mentioned that he had visited that military unit multiple times. The soldiers themselves had collected money to dig a new water line. "The kids had put in money for it; they brought water themselves. They always had bottles of water available," he said.

It should be noted that on January 19, around 01:30, a fire broke out in the barracks of the engineering battalion of the Ministry of Defense located in the Azat village area of Gegharkunik. As a result of the fire, 15 soldiers died, and 7 were injured, four of whom were discharged after receiving medical assistance, while three were transferred to Yerevan’s National Burn Center. The condition of the two is serious.

Immediately after the incident, the commander of the 2nd Army Corps and other senior military officials were dismissed from their positions.