YEREVAN. – The award ceremony for the Armenian military servicemen, who repelled the recent diversion attempts by the Azerbaijani armed forces, was held Monday at the MOD.  

The award ceremony was held at the special meeting devoted to Army Day.

With the decree of Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, the eight conscripts were awarded the Garegin Nzhdeh medal, the Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter informed.  

On Tuesday, two of these soldiers will also be presented the awards of President Serzh Sargsyan.  

The diversionary teams of Azerbaijan had attempted to carry out two simultaneous infiltrations at the line of contact between the Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces. The attempts were recorded at around between 11:50pm on January 19 and 12:15am on January 20. As a result of the ensuing skirmish, however, Junior Sergeant Armen Hovhannisyan was killed.

The funeral of the 19-year-old sergeant was held on January 22, and he was laid to eternal rest at Yerablur Military Pantheon of Armenian capital city Yerevan.

And by the decree of President Bako Sahakyan of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), Hovhannisyan was posthumously awarded with the Bravery Medal for his courage while defending the NKR national border.