Journalists asked the Minister of Defense at the press conference today to present the number of officials that had been held accountable in 2011 for crimes as a result of non-procedural relationship with deadly or murderous outcome. “What we had in 2011 was the result of laborious and consistent work of the commanders, but those drawbacks, incidents that took place were due to the negligence of the commanders of the given military bases and subdivisions. Around 10 commanding officers of the armed forces, at the level of heads of departments, have been discharged and now perform civil activities. Commanders of around 30 military bases have been discharged for the past 3.5 years and they have been replaced by more skillful personalities,” he answered. As for the question regarding the use of the armed forces resource during elections, what practical measures were taken to avoid such things at the upcoming election, he said, “Every citizen in the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia is a citizen of the Republic of Armenia and can participate in the election insofar as he is an individual citizen, can compare this or that personality or party. Looking at the big picture, the armed forces must maintain neutrality; we will do our best to meet the constitutional requirements.”
