Updated: Suspect Arrested in Death of Nineteen-Year-Old Armenian Serviceman

STEPANAKERT, NKR (A.W.)—A suspect has been arrested as a result of a launched investigation into the death of Armenian serviceman Vahagn Virabyan (b. 1997), which took place on the northern direction of the Nagorno-Karabagh (Artsakh/NKR) Line of Contact (LoC) at around 8:40 a.m. on Oct. 15. Though it was originally reported that Virabyan was killed by Azerbaijani fire, a number of details on the incident were revealed on Oct. 17, which indicate that another Armenian serviceman of the same military unit fired the deadly shot in Virabyan’s direction.

It is not yet clear if the incident took place as a result of foul play. According to the press service of the NKR Defense Ministry Investigative Committee, the investigation is ongoing.

(Photo: NKR Defense Ministry)
(Photo: NKR Defense Ministry)

Virabyan’s death comes four days after another Armenian serviceman, Sanasar Grigoryan (b. 1989), was killed by Azerbaijani fire on Oct. 11. Grigoryan was killed on the eastern direction of the NKR LoC.

Four days before Grigoryan’s death, on Oct. 7, Armenian serviceman Hayk Hambardzumyan (b. 1996) sustained a gunshot wound in his chest while serving on the NKR LoC. On Oct. 10, Hambardzumyan was transferred from the Stepanakert Military Hospital to Yerevan by helicopter, where he remains in serious but stable condition.

Three weeks ago, another Armenian serviceman, Sevak Khachatryan (b. 1997) was killed on morning of Sept. 25. According to a statement released by the NKR Defense Ministry, Khachatryan received a fatal gunshot wound at around 10:40 a.m. on Sept. 25, after Azerbaijani troops committed over 50 ceasefire violations, firing around 600 shots towards Armenian positions using various caliber firearms.

2 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*