As far as Yuri Broyan’s issue is concerned, I would like to clarify that the Ministry of Defense works consistently to make sure no citizen with health problems is drafted to the army and servicemen with health problems return from military service recovered. This is what Spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense Artsrun Hovhannisyan wrote on his Facebook page.

He particularly stated the following:

“Currently, the Ministry of Defense of Armenia has submitted to the Staff of the Prime Minister a draft on making amendments to Decision 404 of the Government of Armenia of 12 April 2018 according to which the first article in the list of diseases determining connection with military service is being edited. The list proposes to define a person with a disease with all manifestations of mental retardation as unfit for military service. The Ministry of Defense of Armenia is not entitled to perform any actions not prescribed by law or other regulatory legal acts defining corresponding relations prior to adoption of the specified amendments.”

On July 15, Artsrun Hovhannisyan wrote that military serviceman Yuri Broyan had left the National Center for Mental Health Care in an unknown direction after receiving treatment and isn’t preparing to return to his military unit.

However, the boy’s mother and human rights activists say Yuri Broyan hasn’t undergone treatment and that has other diseases, including mental diseases.