YEREVAN, JANUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. A military official who was in charge of maintaining and enforcing fire safety rules in the barracks where 15 servicemen died as a result of a fire is facing criminal charges, the prosecution said Thursday.

“The prosecutor in charge of supervising the legality of the pre-trial criminal proceedings made a decision on January 25, 2023 to institute public criminal prosecution against G.A., the Chief of Logistics of the military base/Deputy Commander for Logistics and Communal Maintanance, under clause 3 of Article 550 of the Criminal Code (military official negligence which recklessly caused death),” the general prosecution said in a statement.

The official was in charge of enforcing and maintaining the fire safety rules in the military base where the fire happened. His duties included, among others, organizing the fire safety protection for logistical facilities, training of personnel in fire safety rules, ensuring that all facilities are equipped with firefighting measures, verifying the state of the fire safety conditions at least once every 3 months.

As a result of his improper and reckless attitude towards his service duties, the suspect did not implement his duties – including in the direction of equipping the military base with respective fire safety protection measures, and negligently caused deaths, the prosecution said.

The fire in the makeshift barracks of a military base in the village of Azat, Gegharkunik broke out on January 19 when an officer attempted to start a stove (heater) with gasoline. Servicemembers were unable to extinguish the fire because there were no fire protection measures in the barracks. The barracks also lacked a fire exit and the soldiers were unable to break the window grills to escape. As a result, 15 servicemen died and 5 others (including the officer who attempted to light the heater) were injured.