All soldiers who laid down their weapons and were taken prisoner according to the investigation will likely face criminal charges. The Deja Vu telegram channel spread a sensational video of National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan where during an event, he was talking to a citizen about the captives.
“What was the purpose of those captives, those people, the soldiers, that they went… the Homeland? I’m sorry now, I may be saying something a little wrong, but I consider those captives to be gone; they do not exist for me. When a terrorist captures a plane, Israel does not negotiate with the terrorist. It shoots that plane. Do you know who those captives are, the people who laid down their arms, fled, and got lost? I can not say this out loud. Do you not care why the parents of those captives are not active now? Because those people know that they deserted, laid down their weapons, and fled. They ended up in captivity,” the NA Speaker said.
On December 7 in a briefing with journalists, Alen Simonyan announced, “All soldiers who laid down their weapons and were taken prisoner according to the investigation will likely face criminal charges. That is the requirement of the law, not what I said. We have raised and will continue to raise this humanitarian issue in the negotiation process. Our partners sit down and research what issues I raised during my negotiation process. I must assure you that this issue has been raised during all our discussions, but the people who did not fulfill their official duties, laid down their arms and were taken prisoner… I see that the word ‘hero’ has been deprived of its value as well on Facebook because an equal scale is applied to everyone. There are many heroic boys in the Armenian army. There are many, they are our pride, but unfortunately there are soldiers and officers who did not fulfill their duty and found themselves in captivity.”
In response to the question about how the preliminary investigation is not over, so why is he taking over the function of law enforcement officers, he answered, “I do not have a prejudiced attitude. The RA Criminal Code stipulates that they should be held responsible in such cases. The Prime Minister also spoke about it. That responsibility will be borne by all those who have violated the law and preferred to surrender instead of protecting the RA border. The RA border guard, or the army that stands and guards the border, has that order to shoot. The commander who gave such an order not to shoot will also be prosecuted.”
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Alen Simonyan assured that there is no such person in Armenia who breaks the law and will not be held accountable, and no order was given not to shoot in the RA Defense Army. In response to the question of how he denies the existence of living and healthy people in that video instead of mentioning criminal responsibility, and how he said that they do not exist for him, Alen Simonyan answered, “No, the material is edited. It was about something else- negotiations, the position of the state in different situations.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
