Leaked Photos Show Bodies in a Non-Cooled Room
In a wake of new and outrages news that shook Armenian population once again, it looks like Armenia and its people can’t have one moment of peace. Following the conclusion of the armed conflict with Azerbaijan in 2020 and the political unbalance it caused in Armenia, this time the disturbance came from within Armenia itself. On May 31, 2021 relatives of Armenian soldiers presumed missing or killed in last fall war, blocked one of the main streets in Yerevan. The cause for the protest was new information that came to light related to the condition of the fallen Armenian solders.
Arsen Ghukasyan, who is a relative of one missing solder, stated in his Facebook Live that the government has been inconsistent with the number of Armenian solders and that ‘’There are around 200 bodies of Armenian soldiers that have now appeared’’. Worse than being untruthful about the number of bodies of Armenian solders is the fact that many of those are stored in the most gruesome and disrespecting way possible. ‘’They have been stored in different places, including fruit refrigerators. Now they are taking them out and handing them over to the families’’ stated Ghukasyan, revealing one of the most inhumane things their government has ever done.
Later that day, different media outlets published images showing how bodies of Armenian soldiers are being kept in a tuberculosis dispensary. The images show multiple bodies wrapped in what seems like polyethylene and thrown over each other carelessly. The rooms they are kept in look non-refrigerated and not suitable to use for corpse storage. This sparked an outrage with the whole Armenian population and the public soon began asking for explanations from the Ministry of Public Health.
The Ministry of health responded quickly, stating that those are the remains and bodies of the identified Armenian solders. ‘’The remains have been temporarily kept in a room with walls with thermal insulation because of the relative’s wish to transfer them to another place…The remains have been identified and ready for the relatives to take them’’ was written in the statement. This further aggravated the public who’s biggest concern was why were the bodies treated in such way seven month after they were found, rather than who the bodies belonged to.
Armenia’s Minister of Health, Anahit Avanesyan posted on her Facebook page an apology to the relatives of the solders in these pictures ‘’It was my omission that after relocation I didn’t visit the dispensary again to make sure the bodies are kept in proper condition’.
Anahit Avanesyan was appointed Minister of Public Health five months ago and, according to public opinion, has yet to contribute to the field in any way. From the start of her tenure, the Armenians were dissatisfied with her mainly because of her complete lack of medical knowledge and education.
Anahit Avanesyan has a Masters degree in Civil Law from the Yerevan State University, while her predecessor, Arsen Torosyan specialized in social hygiene and healthcare and had a postgraduate specialization in Public Health and Healthcare Management.
On June 2nd, 2021, the Ministry of Health issues another statement according to which employees responsible for the way the bodies of Armenia solders were stored were fired.
A new incident in Armenia showed the inhumane conditions in which the bodies of the Armenian solders are being kept:
- On May 31, the relatives of those presumed missing or killed in combat gathered on the streets of Yerevan after gaining new information that the bodies of Armenian solders are being kept in fruit refrigerators.
- Later that day, media published photographs of tuberculosis dispensary showing bodies being kept in non-refrigerated rooms, wrapped in white bags and thrown on the floor and over each other without any thought.
- The Ministry of Health issues a statement explaining who the bodies from those images belong to stating they were those who were identified and ready to be picked up by the families. The statement says nothing about the conditions in which they were stored.
- The acting Minister of Health, Anahit Avanesyan, apologized to the families of those solders whose bodies were stored improperly via her Facebook page.
- The Ministry of Health issues another statement on June 2nd, where they informed the public that those employees responsible of the improper storage were fired.
Armenia’s Minister of Health: Anahit Avanesyan has a Masters degree in Civil Law from the Yerevan State University, which caused many to wonder what her qualifications were when she was appointed Minister of Public Health of Armenia. Her predecessor on the other hand, Arsen Torosyan, specialized in social hygiene and healthcare and had a postgraduate specialization in Public Health and Healthcare Management.
