A conscript in the Armenian Army has come forward with charges that he was raped by fellow soldiers, including an officer, while serving at a post in the Nagorno Karabakh border village of Talish.
Last week Narek Karapetyan (whose name has been changed by ArmeniaNow due to the nature of the charges), of Vanadzor, was transported from the military unit in Talish to the Yerevan Military Hospital where he told military police that he has undergone continuous rapes since he was conscripted and assigned to the post May 10 of last year.
Karapetyan, 18, who is fearful of giving many details, says that he was raped soon after arriving at the post.
This past November, soldiers standing post with Karapetyan removed bullets from his weapon because he had threatened to kill himself.
Last week the Karapetyan family hired Yerevan attorney Zaruhi Postanjyan to represent them. Postanjyan has also represented other soldiers in court claims, and is acquainted with common complaints and accusations regarding conscript life in the Armenian military.
Investigator Hayk Grigoryan of the Military Prosecutor General’s Office in Martakert has already questioned Karapetyan. Postanjyan says she expects to file a lawsuit pending results of an investigation.
Instances of physical and mental abuse and even murder are not uncommon in the military, and though there have been known cases of rape, they are usually not made public.
Karapetyan alleges that he has been raped and has been the victim of routine beatings, including once when an officer beat him with a shovel. (The soldier told his mother that, while in hospital he met four other soldiers who had been raped.)
ArmeniaNow ask the Ministry of Defense’s medical department for a response representing the Army’s point of view on Karapetyan. Authorities refused to answer questions.
The lawyer says Karapetyan has been treated like “a certain type”, referring to the treatment measured out toward conscripts perceived to be homosexual. Postjanyan says her client lost weight because he was isolated from the mess hall, and denied normal use of post facilities.
When he was conscripted, Karapetyan who is about 6 feet tall, weighed 102 kilograms (about 224 pounds). In the past eight months he has lost nearly 40 kilograms (down to about 145 pounds).
About 45 days after his conscription, Karapetyan’s mother, Anahit Gasparyan, saw her son for the first time during his military service, and says she hardly recognized him.
“He had lost too much weight in 45 days,” the mother says. “During the 6 hours given for visitation, I asked him to take off his jacket and to change his t-shirt. He was refusing; when he took it off I was horrified to see the bruises on his neck and arms.”
The next meeting with the son took place on November 11 when the Company Commander urged the mother to go to Talish, since “Narek is in very bad condition”.
“When he embraced me I could feel his bones in my arms. He was crying while embracing me. He didn’t raise his head, when I looked at his face I was horrified – in front of me was Narek who had got older. Under the eyes he was black and sunken.”
Gasparyan met with commanders of her son’s unit.
“They were aware of what was happening with my son and had not even provided him medical aid,” she says. “They told me he suffers incontinence on purpose, to be waived from military service.”
According to his mother and counsel, Karapetyan suffers from chronic diarrhea and has had fainting spells.
Suspecting Karapetyan could have told something to his mother, the representatives of the officer staff of the unit have allegedly forced him to write a note stating that he had consensual sex with the officer, who is known to be a captain.
“Then they took Narek out and soon returned with an appeal that they implied was written and signed by Narek; it said he had (had sex voluntarily) and no one had forced him. When they gave it to me to get acquainted, I saw it was written in Armenian and told them Narek does not write in Armenian and naturally he couldn’t write such a thing.”
In November, Gasparyan demanded moving Narek to hospital for examination. Her request was denied.
Later, though, Military Unit Commander Karen Shakaryan orderd that Narek be moved to a hospital in the nearest village of Alashan.
Gasparyan’s appeal to have her son hospitalized was endorsed by RA Minister of Defense Serge Sargsyan.
“I was scared so much that I did not mention the details (about rape) in the appeals I sent to the defense ministers of NKR and RA – I was afraid I could harm my son,” says the mother.
Narek Karapetyan and his mother left the northern Armenia city of Vanadzor, 7 years ago, when he was 11 for Russia, after his parents had divorced. Last spring, however he returned to Armenia to fulfill his obligatory service.
“The military knows very well what is going on in the army and don’t take measures to prevent it,” his mother says. “They consider it as a normal army life. One of the high ranked officers in the army told me those with only one parent are particularly treated that way,” says Anahit.
ArmeniNow