Today, March 6, the trial of the Azat bomb shelter fire is underway in the first instance of the Gegharkunik Regional Court of General Jurisdiction, and the atmosphere is tense.
Today, the defendant in the case, Deputy Commander of the Military Unit Gor Agekyan, was questioned. The defendant refused to answer questions from the relatives of the deceased soldiers, noting that all the answers were contained in his testimony. This angered the relatives of the deceased.
Norayr Norkyan, a representative of the legal successors of the deceased soldiers, stated that these questions will still be asked, and sooner or later the public expects to hear them.
A relative of one of the deceased soldiers stated: “We haven’t been given comprehensive answers.” I propose and demand that you interrogate Tigran Gazaryan, the service chief; Tigran Manasaryan, the platoon commander; Serob Asatrayan, the company captain; Gor Margaryan, the company commander; Radik Hakobyan, the chief of staff; Shiraz Khachatryan, the corps commander; Sargis Mazmanyan; and Argam Gevorgyan. They must all appear here and provide comprehensive answers.
Gor Aghekyan told us, “I’ll tell you everything, I’ll tell you everything,” but now he refuses to testify. We simply feel deceived.”
Another Armenian soldier who died noted, “We listened patiently, so we could ask our questions and ultimately get answers. This is respect for these guys and for us, Gor, which you failed to show. You deceived us; you put a soft pillow under our heads. We saw your respect for us and for the guys.” “Squad commander, lieutenant colonel, colonel… You will answer!” shouted a relative of one of the deceased servicemen.
The situation escalated, everyone was shouting, and the judge tried to calm the situation, demanding silence. “We understand your indignation, but let’s listen.”
It should be noted that on January 19, at around 1:30 AM, a fire broke out in the barracks of the engineering company of the Nth military unit of the RA Ministry of Defense, located in the village of Azat in the Gegharkunik region. Fifteen conscripts were killed. Seven servicemen were taken to Vardenis Hospital, four of whom were discharged after receiving medical treatment, and three were transferred to the National Burn Center in Yerevan with severe injuries.
Immediately following the incident, the commander of the 2nd Army Corps and seven other high-ranking servicemen were suspended from their posts.
Several hours after the tragedy, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan presented the official version of events at a government meeting, according to which the officer doused the stove with gasoline. After the fire spread to him, he threw a 5-liter canister of gasoline toward the shelter “out of self-defense,” causing the fire.
A criminal case was opened under Part 4 of Article 532 of the RA Criminal Code (violation of rules for handling weapons, ammunition, military equipment, or other military property, materials, devices, or objects posing a serious danger to the environment, resulting in the death of two or more people through negligence) and a case under Part 3 of Article 550 of the Criminal Code (characteristics of the official in the military indictment resulting in the death of a person through negligence), which were attached to the main case.
It should be added that the parents of the victims do not believe the official version. They believe the incident was deliberate and that the boys died before the fire. Many of them describe tense relations between the young men and the officers.
The General Court of First Instance of the Gegharkunik Region delivered a guilty verdict on August 21, 2025. The defendant, Junior Sergeant R.M., was sentenced to three years in prison.
Conscript Junior Sergeant R.M., who participated in the company reorganization from January 18 to 19, 2023, and was performing company security duties at the deployment site of the engineering company of Military Unit No. of the RA Ministry of Defense, located in the village of Azat in the Gegharkunik Region, was found guilty of committing a crime under Article 543, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code (violation of internal service regulations, resulting in the death of a person(s) through negligence).