According to the decision of the court of general jurisdiction of Gegharkunik Province of Armenia, detention for a period of two months has been selected as a pretrial measure against G.A., the head of the rear and the deputy commander in charge of the rear and utility operation service of a military unit. Armenian News-NEWS.am learns about this from the public relations department of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The Prosecutor General’s Office informed that on Wednesday, the prosecutor supervising the legality of the pretrial criminal proceedings decided to launch a public criminal prosecution against G.A., under Section 3 of Article 550 of the Criminal Code of Armenia; that is, official military negligence that caused the death of a person through carelessness.
G.A. was detained on Thursday.
Earlier, Armenian News-NEWS.am reported that at around 1:30am on January 19, a fire broke out in the accommodation of the engineering-sapper platoon of the military unit located in the territory of Azat village of Armenia’s Gegharkunik Province. Fifteen servicemen have died as a result of this fire, and seven others were injured. Four of them were discharged from the Vardenis town hospital after receiving medical treatment, whereas three others with severe burns were transported to National Center of Burns and Dermatology in the capital Yerevan.
Immediately after the incident, the commander of the 2nd Army Corps and seven other high-ranking military personnel were relieved of their positions.
A few hours after the incident, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting of the government that an officer had poured gasoline in the stove of the aforesaid accommodation. After which, when the fire had gotten to him, he had thrown—with a self-protective instinct—the 5-liter can of gasoline in his hand towards the accommodation, and this had caused the fire.
But later, the platoon commander told reporters that there was no gasoline in the accommodation, essentially refuting the PM. The Military Prosecutor also stated that it is not yet clear whether it was gasoline or diesel fuel.
Criminal proceedings have been launched into this incident.
