YEREVAN. - Head of the Military-Medical Department of Armenian Armed Forces Colonel Artashes Parsadanyan refuted talks that stress could cause mental illness of serviceman Hovhannes Vardanyan at a press conference on Saturday.

He mentioned that in certain cases mental illnesses are latent.

“Nobody knows whether the disease should declare itself in 2 months after the conscription or in 10 years after retirement," said the colonel.

Hovhannes Vardanyan was recruited in 2010 and served for one year and two months. On September 5 youth initiative “We Won’t Keep Silent” has alerted that  the servicemen was beaten.

Members of the youth initiative went to the clinic and filmed Hovhannes and his relatives telling about details of the incident. Later Vardanyan was struck by mental illness. Anaida Gevorgyan, the head of the clinic where Vardanyan was placed, said that mental illness is of chronic nature, inherited from one of the parents.