Another officer arrested in probe of Armenian soldiers' death

Another arrest has been made as part of a criminal investigation into the tragic death of 15 Armenian servicemen in January, the Investigative Committee said on Saturday.

The soldiers were killed in a major fire that broke out in the barracks of an engineer and sapper company stationed in Azat, a village in Armenia’s Gegharkunik Province, early on 19 January. Three other troops were severely injured in the fire.

A first instance court in Yerevan ordered the arrest of Captain Yeghishe Hakobyan the head of the military unit’s engineering service, for two months, granting a motion filed by investigators on Friday night.

The authorities claim the fire was erupted after the captain poured gasoline into a woodstove in violation of fire safety rules. Hakobyan has been charged with negligence.

Earlier in January, a deputy commander of the military unit for logistics and communal maintenance was arrested as part of the probe into the incident.