"Chief of Military Police is lying clinically"
After Armenia's former minister of defense Vladmir Gasparyan was appointed chief of Armenia's police, the cooperation between the Defense Ministry and "We shall not keep silent" youth initiative aimed at putting an end to the corrupt practices in the Armenian army, was seriously periled, the initiative group said in a statement.
"After Vladimir Gasparyan was transferred to the police system, a number of officials at the Ministry began ignoring the group's concern, determination and potential. In particular, we learnt that soldier Hovhannes Yesayan, who called the group's hotline on Nov. 2to report on violation in his military unit, was transferred to Yerevan on Saturday. According to the information obtained, Yesayan was subjected to torture and forced to withdraw his charges. A number of news websites responded to the incident later in the day.
At the request of Hovhannes Yesayan, the telephone conversation had been posted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xQe3LYIjbM)
On learning about the pressure used against the soldier, the group representative immediately contacted Chief of the Military Police of Armenia Aram Ter-Sahakyan and asked him to organize a meeting with Yesayan. Ter-Sahakyan answered that the solider was at the Ijevan regional military police department at that moment but in fact Yesayan had been taken to Yerevan the previous day and was at the office of Alexan Alexanyan, head of a Ministry of Defense department at that moment.
Ter-Sahakyan promised to arrange a meeting with Yesayan ՛as soon as he arrived in Yerevan.' At 5:00 pm. however, Ter-Sahakyan went back on his promise and sent a group representative to Armen Harutyunyan, Chief of the Investigation Department at the Ministry of Defense. But a soldier that responded to a call told the group member to call back the next Monday.
What was the purpose of the farce as a result of which the group was deprived of an opportunity to meet the soldier?
Unfortunately, experience shows that Defense Ministry officials do not intend to carry out reforms. Yesayan's case is a glaring example of it. Let no one be surprised if the Ministry states one of these days the soldier has repudiated his statement.
The group sticks to the opinion that chief of staff of RA Armed forces Yuri Khachaturov and his subordinates are responsible for the disgraceful situation in the armed forces. The group continues to demand his resignation.
It is not the millionaire generals, but our soldiers who fall victim to this disgraceful situation.
Unfortunately, the number of people that can only sober up by YouTube footages is increasing as well," reads the statement.
