Tuesday, November 14 2017 14:40

ArmInfo.The head of the opposition faction "Elk" Nikol Pashinyan today from the rostrum of the parliament during the discussion of the draft law "On military  service and the status of serviceman", which assumes the complete abolition of the deferment from compulsory military service for all young people who have reached the age of 18 and do not get out of health problems, incompatible with the service in the army, sharply criticized the defense minister Vigen Sargsyan.

"Vigen Sargsyan's speeches can not be called otherwise but cynical  and ridiculous," Pashinyan concluded, expressing his dissatisfaction  with the fact that during the presentation of such an important  document in the parliament, the defense minister does not attend the  meeting room.

Pashinyan did not particularly like Vigen Sargsyan's statement that  he is a politician. "Which politician is Vigen Sargsyan, he has been  and remains a lifelong referent, spending his time in the waiting  room or other proper person. and now he is not the Minister of  Defense - he is now the referent of Serzh Sargsyan in the Defense  Ministry," the Pashinyan region.

He also criticized Sargsyan's statement that if the bill is adopted,  all recruits will have the opportunity to serve under the same  conditions as Vigen Sargsyan. "It is that, he offers everyone to  become Serzh Sargsyan's referents, because Vigen Sargsyan served as  Serge Sargsyan's referent," Pashinyan said.

The MP also expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that the  Defense Ministry did not provide him with documentary justification  for the postponement of service in the army of Vigen Sargsyan: "I was  told that they were destroyed and presented a copy of the diploma of  Sargsyan, where he noted that he studied at the Yerevan State  University from 1992 to 1997. Meanwhile, in the biography of the same  Sargsyan it is said that during that period he studied in St.  Petersburg. All this shows that it is necessary to deal with forgery  in the biography of Vigen Sargsyan," said Pashinyan.

Further, he criticized the Minister of Defense for having  "privatized" copyrights to the concept of "Nation- Army". "Vigen  Sargsyan constantly talks about this concept, forgetting that his  author is not he, but the hero of the Karabakh war, now arrested  Zhirayr Sefilyan, and we need to figure out whether we need this  concept," Pashinyan said. Note that the law "On military service and  the status of serviceman" adopted in the first reading radically  changes the procedure for receiving a postponement from military  service with the purpose of studying. In accordance with it, only  those citizens who conclude an agreement with the Ministry of Defense  can undertake a postponement, undertaking to undergo military  training during their studies, and upon completion of studies to  serve in the army in the place specified by the Ministry of Defense  for three years. Otherwise, they will be drafted into the army at the  age of 18 years for a period of two years. By the way, according to  the draft law, persons who are recruited for military service, in  addition to studying, can also use the right to defer for family  reasons and health. Noteworthy in particular are the benefits  provided in case of having children. In this case, according to the  draft law, from those compulsory military service those young people  who before the conscription can have two or more children, with the  exception of the adopted ones, can be released. Another noteworthy  point is that from the service in the army, those young people whose  wife is pregnant with at least twins and whose gestational age is six  months can be released. Parliament, today discusses the draft law "On  military service and the status of a serviceman" in the second  reading. Artak Zakaryan, Deputy Defense Minister, represents the bill  in the parliament.

Against the document are several hundred students who hold protests.  And today, five of them (four of these five, served in the army)  announced an indefinite hunger strike.