After the horrifying scene of soldiers’ remains and corpses being thrown in plastic bags onto the ground in the basement of the Abovyan morgue, the parents of those killed in the 44-day war vowed that none of those responsible would go unpunished.
Three years have passed, and the oath remains, yet those responsible are still free.
“I entered the morgue and saw my son. I hate myself for still living after that terrible scene. I hate this government with every cell in my body. I swore in front of my son’s relics that I would take revenge. You cannot imagine how difficult it is to live with the anger of revenge,” wrote Naira Margaryan, the mother of deceased soldier Zhirayr Margaryan, asking for her words to be published.
We offered to talk, and what Ms. Naira told Aravot.am, detailing her meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his reaction, is simply unimaginable. So, we present that part of the conversation in its entirety:
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“It was April 12. That meeting with Nikol Pashinyan was very heated, very difficult. In the end, the parents’ nerves couldn’t stand it, and the fates of our sons remained unknown. During that meeting, Nikol Pashinyan waved his finger at us and said, ‘You will see your fate,’ and left the meeting hall. He admitted that there were bodies of boys that had not been directly identified, and maybe we had brought the bodies of the enemy because they had changed their clothes. The next day, 60 people called at once to say we had identified bodies. I was among those 60 people.
I went to Heratsi, where a whole wall of police was lined up. If they were right, what was that wall for? What were they protecting themselves from? I went to the Investigation Department, and they told me that my child’s body was in Abovyan. I went to Abovyan and asked the doctor to open the refrigerator. I wanted to see my child and let my mother’s heart feel, see, and understand if it was my child. If it was, I would take him… The doctor didn’t allow me to go in there at that moment because the child was on the ground in an improper condition. After that I gave a double DNA analysis, waiting three months for the results. I waited three months, even though Bisharyan had said it would take 48 hours. After knocking on doors for a long time, they called to say that the match was confirmed. It turned out that my child was actually the child in Abovyan’s morg, and they had been transferred him from Abovyan to Martuni.
We asked why Pashinyan was pointing his finger at the parents. Naira Margaryan responded, “At that time, there were rumors that the children might have crossed over to Persia. I turned to Arsen Torosyan and said that there is no smoke without fire, so there must be something. Maybe they crossed the border. Torosyan said there was no such news. The parents were angry, asking why he was getting involved if he was not aware. Nikol Pashinyan got angry, waved his finger, and said, ‘You will see your fate,’ accusing us of not keeping order, getting angry and spoking in a loud tone.”
We recommend listening to the details of the conversation on the recording.
Hripsime Jebejian
Photo from Naira Margaryan’s Facebook page
