This is the maximum information that the state institutions share concerning the wounded soldiers. The soldiers were wounded during the visit of the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Armenia, when Azeri diversion was perpetrated in Armenia’s Tavush region borderline Chinari and Berdavan areas resulting in 3 deaths and 6 wounded soldiers. According to the information of the ministry of defense, senior lieutenant Mushegh Nurbekyan was wounded in the leg and taken to hospital with shooting wounds. Sergeant Igit Hovhannisyan was wounded in the chest by a shooting that has passed through the chest and was taken to hospital. Sedrak Shahbazyan was wounded in the left leg. Artur Mnatsakanyan was wounded by several shootings in his leg and was taken to hospital. Maxim Melkonyan and Koryun Iritsyan were wounded in their legs and were taken to the army hospital in Tavush region. The names of the killed soldiers are Hrach Sargsyan, Zohrab Balabekyan and Karen Davtyan.
According to the information of the ministry, due to the brave actions on the part of the Armenian military servants the diversion of the foe was stopped and they were pushed back, leaving losses behind. Following the incident the Azeri armed forces made several other attempts to penetrate the borders. In Voskepar village of Tavush region of Armenia a group of Azeri armed fighters consisting of 15-20 people tried to penetrate into Armenia’s territory. The ministry informs that the diversion was resisted due to the attention and actions of Armenian soldiers, and that group was stopped and pushed back again. The Azeri APA news agency refers to the Azeri ministry of defense and writes the names of the Azeri soldiers that were killed as a result of the ceasefire violation – Amil Novrus, Khalid Azizov, Vahid Bagirov, Zulfugar Atashli, Elchin Ismayilov. The Azeri party also suffered many wounded soldiers. The other members of the diversion group managed to escape and took the bodies of the dead and wounded soldiers with them. In two days following that incident, on June 6 there was another incident in the borderline of Karabakh and Azerbaijan. Azeri armed forces tried to penetrate one of the border protection lines of the Republic of Artsakh. The Armenian party could stop the attack; the protection army took actions to stop and push back the attacks. As a result of two-way shootings the enemy suffered losses. Unfortunately the Armenian party suffered losses as well. Junior sergeant Vardan Ohanyan was killed and two soldiers were wounded. According to the head of the NKR defense army media department Senor Hasratyan, the wounded soldiers were taken to the hospital in Stepanakert. We could not get detailed information as Hasratyan’s phone was turned off. We also tried to get information concerning the 4 soldiers that are in the hospital after Muratsan in Yerevan. However, the doctors and people of the hospital are not open for giving information to media. It is even prohibited to speak near the doors of the hospital. The head of the hospital was angry at the media and when I called him using the phone of the entrance point of the hospital, he said that the media had published fake information and he was not going to answer any questions. However, later he agreed to talk to me and comment on the publications in the media that had made him angry. He was very laconic and said that the four soldiers were still in their hospital and their health condition was good. This was all we were able to find out.
The head of Chinari village Samvel Soghoyan says that now the situation is quieter compared to the other days. “The people of Chinari have got used to the sounds of shootings. Since 1990 there are shootings every day. The enemy is in 600-700 distance at a higher location. Currently our people feel fine and they are not in panic. The school and kindergarten are working normally and people are doing their routine jobs. We continue living our life; just it was a tragedy that our soldiers were killed,” said S. Soghoyan during a phone conversation with us. According to him, the longest shootings lasted 4-5 hours and it was on May 8. “They are shooting at villagers who are taking their animals to the field, they are shooting peaceful civilians and bypassing people. People have got used to such things and they stay far from those areas during tense times,” said the head of the village and added that as a result of those shootings buildings, including the building of the kindergarten suffered. He says that those houses are in one kilometer distance from the border and shootings affect those buildings often. Currently Chinari has 1280 villagers with 140 pupils in the school and 30 children attending the kindergarten. “Thanks to God in 2011 there were no victims among the civilians. But in 2008, 2009 and 2010 civilians were killed. The war has not finished in Chinari. When we send young people to the army, I tell them that they are going from the front line to serve in the back lines,” said S. Soghoyan.