Armenia`s defense minister higher value than army and soldier`s life  - human rights activist 

ArmInfo.Today, Defense Minister Suren Papikyan is a higher value than the army and the life of a soldier. This is how human rights activist Zhanna Aleksanyan responded to yesterday's statement by the Armenian Defense Ministry that the number of deaths in the country's armed forces has decreased, and not increased, as some NGOs claim.

Aleksanyan noted that yesterday the Defense Ministry tried to blame  individual NGOs that made statements about this for the deaths of  people in the army.

"They say that the number of deaths has decreased by half, but they  do not publish their figures. They are interested in decreasing  figures, but not in human lives. Everyone is to blame for the deaths  of servicemen in non-combat conditions: society, family, NGOs, and in  some cases even the killed soldier himself.  Shifting the blame to  others. This is the policy of these authorities, and not only in the  case of the army," the human rights activist wrote on her Facebook  page.

At the same time, she noted that the army was closed, no discussions,  no words, no concerns. "They are trying to impose a taboo on the army  topic, soldiers should kill themselves, and you should remain silent.   Only good things about us and nothing more. After the first war,  there was a taboo on covering fatalities in the army in the media,  but I always covered it, it seemed that this ban imposed by Vazgen  Sargsyan did not apply to me. Once he told me: "I always wondered why  you criticize me so much, but then I realized that you do it for the  army, and I fell in love with you very much." Loyalty and love for  the army, and now Papikyan - a higher value than the army and the  life of a soldier," the human rights activist summarized. 

On October 28 in parliament, in response to journalists' remarks that  since the beginning of the year, 33 cases of non-combat deaths have  been recorded in the country's Armed Forces, the press secretary of  the Armenian Defense Ministry Aram Torosyan stated that the number of  deaths in the army has decreased compared to the same period last  year. However, he refused to provide figures, citing state secrets.  He then accused human rights organizations and individuals in the  field of speculating on this topic. According to him, "most of the  deaths were not related to the service, which is something that NGO  representatives are silent about."