REFERENCE

Helsinki Citizens‟ Assembly Vanadzor

OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS

REFERENCE

ON DEATH CASES IN RA ARMED FORCES AND NKR DEFENSE ARMY IN 2015

Vanadzor 2016

The Report was prepared with the financial support of the Open Society Foundations.

The views, interpretations and conclusions in the Report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the funding organization.

Executive Summary

According to the findings of the studies by HCA Vanadzor, 76 military servicemen died in the 58 incidents recoded in RA Armed Forces and NKR Defense Army in 2015. Also, another 4 death cases of Armenian servicemen were recorded: 2 of them served with the Russian troops in Armenia, 1 served in RA Armed Forces and according to the Defense Ministry, died after being discharged to military reserve, and the other case had nothing to do with military activities (murder of military commissar of Berd town, Tavush Marz (Region) by a fellow villager under the influence of alcohol). To compare, it should be noted that in the previous year, the number of death cases totaled 45 due to 41 incidences.

According to the findings of the study, 41 of the 76 death cases in 2015 were caused by the ceasefire violations, 3 cases by murders (1 premeditated homicides and 2 caused by breach of military service rules1), 6 cases by suicide or causing someone to commit a suicide (1 by breach of military service rules), 21 by accidents (19 car accidents and 1 grenade explosion, and 1 in circumstances still unclear), and the other 4 by health problems.

34 of the 41 death cases caused by the ceasefire violations occurred in NKR, and the other 7 in the RA.

The Table below shows the areas of ceasefire violations and number of victims in 2011-2015.

Table 1. Number of death cases caused by ceasefire violations in 2013 – 2015 as broken down by areas

Year NKR

RA

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

11 2 1 23 34

0 10 4 3 7

Number of death cases caused by ceasefire violations 11 12 5 26 41

Total

71

24

95

1

Area

Total number of death cases

241

39 50 31 45 76

In such murder cases, if there is no accused, the criminal proceedings are usually initiated under “Breach of military service rules”.

The Table above shows that the number of death cases caused by ceasefire violations has sharply increased in the recent 2 years particularly on the borderline between NagornoKarabakh and Azerbaijan.

Note that if compared with the total rate of death cases, the number of the death cases caused by ceasefire violations amounted to 28.2% in 2011, 24% in 2012, 16.1% in 2013, and in 2014 and 2015, this rate rose totaling 57.7% and 53.9%, respectively.

Table 2 provides comparison of the official data of the number of death cases caused by ceasefire violation and those possessed by HCA Vanadzor.

Table 2 Findings of studies by HCA Vanadzor on death cases caused by ceasefire violation as compared with official data Number of death cases caused by ceasefire violation in 2011-2014

HCAV data

Official data (RA Defense Ministry or RA Military Prosecutor‟s Office)

HCAV data

Official data (RA Defense Ministry or RA Military Prosecutor‟s Office)

11 12 5 26 54

10 13 5 26 54

39 50 31 45 165

36 36 30 45 147

Year

2011 2012 2013 2014 Total

Total number of death cases in 2011-2014

The Diagram below shows the compared data of the rates of ceasefire violations and death cases cased by them in 2011-2015.

Diagram 1. Rates of ceasefire violations 2 and death cases caused by them in 2011-2015

Number of ceasefire violations Number of death cases due to ceasefire violations

The dynamics of the ceasefire violations/victims proportion reveals that the number of the death cases caused by the ceasefire violations rose along with the growing number of such violations.

The comparison of the number of ceasefire violations per death case caused by such violations in 2011-2015 /see Table 3/ shows that while the number of ceasefire violations per death case in 2015 has significantly reduced, the number of death cases increased. This indicator speaks of inadequate observation of mortar duty security rules and insufficient level of security measures.

2

If before December 18, 2015, the daily press reports in Nagorno-Karabakh regularly mentioned the number of ceasefire violations,starting from the date above, the press reports lack such data and only mention the number of shots. Consequently, the rates of ceasefire violations in 2015 exceed the data mentioned in the Diagram.

Table 3. Number of ceasefire violations per death case

Year

Number of death cases caused by Number of ceasefire violations ceasefire violations

per

death

case

(ceasefire

violation/death case) 2011

11

1145

2012

12

1358

2013

5

2650

2014

26

1165

2015

41

978

It is quite noteworthy that unlike the official reports (mostly by the NK Defense Army Press Service) on the ceasefire violation rates in the past years with no mention of the weapons used, the reports of 2015 overwhelmingly contain information on the weapons and frequency of their use.

The Table below covers an outline of the weapons and frequency of their use during the ceasefire violations in 2015 /see Table 4/.

Table 4. Weapons and frequency of their use by Azerbaijani side during ceasefire violations in 2015

№

Weapons used during ceasefire violations

1

Grenade launchers RPG-7 AGL-17 GP-25 AGS-17 HHN-9 AGS SPG ‟Mukha‟ SPG-9 AGS - 18 RPG - 21

2

Mortar (artillery) 60 mm 60 and 82 mm 120 mm

Frequency of weapon use 117 47 45 4 3 9 2 1 1 3 1 1 106 43 19 12

Rate of used shells 974 152 shells 749 shells 4 shells 12 shells 17 shells 37 shells 1 shells 2 shells No data No data No data 6062 2545 shells 526 shells 322 shells

3

4 5 6 7 8

60, 82 and 120 mm 82 mm Firearms „Black Arrow‟ AK Istiglal PK machine gun RPK SVD Missile stations TR-107 Zenith systems ZU-23/2 type Large-caliber machine-gun weapons Not specified Large-caliber artillery 122-mm howitzer D-30 Аrmored vehicles Tank Total

9 23 6 1 1 1 1 1 1 19 19 5 5 1 1 2 2 3 3 259

156 shells 2513 shells No data No data No data No data No data No data 254 254 shells 3 3 No data No data 34 34 shells 20 20 shells 7347

The Table above suggests that the enemy‟s armed forces most frequently used mortars and grenade launchers of various types.

The United Nations Register of Conventional Arms3 in use since 1992 covers 7 categories of arms that various countries should provide annual import and export data. The categories include as follows: 1. battle tanks; 2. armored combat vehicles; 3. large-caliber artillery systems; 4. combat aircraft; 5. attack helicopters; 6. warships; 7. missiles. The weapons used by the Azerbaijani military forces in 2015 are listed in the UN Register of Conventional Weapons. Moreover, it is noteworthy that in 2015, the Azerbaijani armed forces started using weapons rarely used previously or not used at all, particularly the TR3

https://unoda-web.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/English7.pdf, http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/Register/, http://www.mfa.am/hy/security/

107-type jet rocket station, large-caliber artillery: 122-mm howitzer D-30 and armored vehicles. The weapons and vehicles above caused the death of a large number of military servicemen, and the splinters of the missiles caused the death of not only servicemen, but also civil population in border villages.4 As for the 122-mm howitzer D-30, in 2015 it was used for the first time since the ceasefire agreement of 1994.

As for the violation of the Treaty on Conventional Arms through the exceeding purchase of a number of arms limited under the Treaty, it shows the increasing level of militarization in the region, which jeopardizes the negotiations process aimed at peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

General Outline of Death Cases

Out of the 76 servicemen deceased in 2015, 19 were contract servicemen, 5 14 - officers, 2non-commissioned officers, 1 - RA Defense Ministry Military Police officer, 38 - compulsory conscript servicemen, and there is no data on whether the 58-year-old person who died in a car accident along with other officers was a military serviceman or not. As for another incident, it is mentioned that the military officer who died in a car accident was a secret service officer, however, there is no information on whether he was an officer or a conscript serviceman.

Out of the 76 death cases, 30 occurred in the Republic of Armenia and the other 46 in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Out of the facts on 76 death cases, official reports were issued only on the facts of 50 death cases.

4 5

http://news-book.am/?p=66874%2Fhakarakordi+koxmic+3+bnakchi+spanutyan+depqi+aritv+harucvel+e+qreakan+gorc&l=am The number of deceased contract servicemen also includes the death of worker-serviceman Levon Tonoyan who died of health problems.

According to the information available, criminal proceedings were initiated on 56 death cases out of 76, with 50 cases under preliminary investigation, and 4 cases under judicial examination.

Breakdown of Initiated Criminal Proceedings by Articles of RA Criminal Code

 12 criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 104(2)(13), RA Criminal Code, i.e. murder out of motives of national, racial or religious hatred or fanaticism;  6 criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 104(2)(1, 6 and 13), RA Criminal Code, i.e. murder of 2 or more persons committed in a way dangerous for the life of many people out of motives of national, racial or religious hatred or fanaticism;  4 criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 104(2)(1 and 13), RA Criminal Code, i.e. murder of 2 or more persons out of motives of national, racial or religious hatred or fanaticism;  3 criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 104(2)(1, 6, 7 and 13), RA Criminal Code, i.e. murder of 2 or more persons by a group of people or by an organized group committed in a way dangerous for the life of many people out of motives of national, racial or religious hatred or fanaticism;  2 criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 104(2)(1, 7 and 13) of the RA Criminal Code, i.e. murder of 2 or more persons by a group of people or by an organized group out of motives of national, racial or religious hatred or fanaticism;  2 criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 104(2)(6 and 13), RA Criminal Code, i.e. murder committed in a way dangerous for the life of many people, out of motives of national, racial or religious hatred or fanaticism;  2 criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 104(2)(7 and 13), RA Criminal Code, i.e. murder by a group of people or by an organized group out of motives of national, racial or religious hatred or fanaticism;  1 criminal proceeding was initiated under Article 104(2)(7), RA Criminal Code, i.e. murder by a group of people or by an organized group;  8 criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 242(3), RA Criminal Code, i.e. breach of rules of traffic or operating transportation vehicles by persons driving them, which negligently caused the death of 2 or more persons;

 5 criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 242(2), RA Criminal Code, i.e. breach of rules of traffic or operating transportation vehicles, which negligently caused a human death;  6 criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 110(1), RA Criminal Code, i.e. causing somebody to commit suicide or make an attempt at a suicide by indirect willfulness or by negligence, by means of threat, cruel treatment or regular humiliation of one‟s dignity;  3 criminal proceedings were initiated under Article 365(3), RA Criminal Code, i.e. violation of combat duty or combat service rules, which caused grave consequences;  2 criminal proceeding were initiated under Article 377(2), RA Criminal Code, i.e. breach of rules for driving or operating transportation vehicles which negligently caused human death. In its response to the Organization‟s inquiry on one of the death cases (serviceman Artur

Arakelyan), the RA Investigative Committee General Military Investigation Department stated that initiation of criminal proceedings on the incident above was declined under Article 35(1)(1), RA Criminal Procedure Code: ([...] no criminal proceedings may be

launched and no criminal prosecution may be initiated if there is no incident of crime).

The summary of the death cases caused by ceasefire violation in 2015, amounting to more than half of the total number of death cases, attests to unprecedented increased tension on the Armenian-Azerbaijani and Nagorno-Karabakh-Azerbaijani border lines in 2014-2015.

In 2015, the number of death cases of servicemen caused by car accidents increased. According to the studies by HCA Vanadzor, there were 3 such recoded cases in the previous year. Most of the deceased military servicemen were officers or conscript soldiers. It should also be noted that there are mostly no official reports of such cases, and therefore, it remains unclear whether such servicemen deceased on their duty or not. In many cases, the media reports mention that such persons drove their own vehicles during the car accidents.

As for the death cases of servicemen due to health problems, there is no official information on almost all of the cases. The public was informed of such cases mostly from press releases

issued by the mass media. Also, there is no information on criminal proceedings initiated on such cases.

Suicides are mostly caused by breach of statutory relations. Military servicemen suffer violence, pressure and humiliation.

Table 5

Outline and Statistics of Death Cases The Table below (see Table 5) provides the death cases statistics for 2015.

Cause/effect of death cases in 2015 Month

Ceasefi re violati on

January February March April May June July August September October November December

10 3 6 2

Total

41

Breach of combat service rules

Suicide /Causing to commit a suicide

1

1

Murder Premeditat ed

Accidents

Breach of combat service rules

1

Car acci dent s

Still unclea r

Gre nad e expl osio n

Hea lth prob lems

1 1 1 1

1

1 2

2 7

1

1

2 8

1

1

*RA Military Police officer

6

1

2

1 1 1

1 3* 1 5 2 3 2

19

1 1

1

1

4

Num ber of incid ents

Total

Official reports available

9 5 4 4 2 5 2 4 6 2 5 10

12 6 7 4 2 5 3 4 13 2 7 11

8 6 6 4 1 3 2 1 8 0 2 9

58

76

50