On December 15th, Leon Khachatryan, who had been injured during the trial of 15 soldiers killed in the Azat village military unit, made an announcement in the village of Sevana in the Gegharkunik region. He revealed that he had clashed with the command of the military unit. Khachatryan explained that in the previous trial, he didn’t mention this conflict, but this time, the commander came alone and grabbed his collar, implying that the clash occurred because they didn’t send him. The injured person stated that he had a personal problem and wanted to change barracks as a result. When asked if he had reached the neighborhood or the gate of the barracks, Khachatryan mentioned that he couldn’t recall reaching the neighborhood or the gate, but he remembered getting close to the gate of the barracks. There was a distance of 3-4 meters between his current location and the barracks.

It is worth noting that on January 19th, at 01:30, an explosion at the Armenian 5th military unit in the village of Azat, Gegharkunik region resulted in the deaths of 15 soldiers and 7 were transferred to Vardenis hospital. Four of them were discharged after receiving medical treatment, while the remaining three with severe injuries were transferred to the National Burns Center in Yerevan.

Following the incident, the 2nd Deputy Commander of the Military Corps and seven high-ranking military officials were arrested. Shortly after, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resigned during a government meeting, admitting that he had accidentally caused the explosion by filling a gas canister with scissors, causing a spark. Pashinyan was charged under Article 4 of RA Criminal Code 532 for mass murder with particular cruelty and endangering the lives or health of many people through the use of weapons or military equipment, as well as under Article 3 of RA Criminal Code 550 for intentionally inflicting particularly serious harm on military service with special cruelty.

It is important to mention that the parents of the victims have expressed their lack of trust in the official version of events. They believe that the incident was a deliberate act and that the officers were already dead before the explosion occurred. Many of them have even spoken about the presence of burns on the soldiers’ bodies that could indicate foul play in the killings.