Third Non-Combat Military Death Reported in Armenia in 10 Days

The death of serviceman Edgar Gevorgyan marks the third Armenian serviceman to die in non-combat circumstances in just 10 days, bringing the number of servicemen who have died in 2026 to 33.

On August 23, Armenia’s Ministry of Defense reported that Gevorgyan had been found dead with a gunshot wound at a military unit. The circumstances of his death are under investigation.

Ten days earlier, on August 13, serviceman Grigor Zakaryan was found dead with a gunshot wound at a military unit. The Investigative Committee later said a fellow serviceman had been remanded in custody in a criminal case involving negligently driving Zakaryan to suicide.

On August 19, serviceman Suren Vardanyan died after a GAZ-53 truck struck a group of servicemen near Chambarak. Several others were hospitalized.

The three deaths add to an already alarming toll in Armenia’s Armed Forces.

According to the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, 30 servicemen died during the first seven months of 2026, all in non-combat circumstances. Less than a month later, that figure has risen to 33, just two short of the 35 deaths recorded during all of 2025.

The longer-term figures are equally concerning.

HCAV recorded 276 non-combat deaths between 2012 and 2017. During the following six-year period, from 2018 through 2023, that number rose to 355, an increase of nearly 29%.

The pattern continued with 36 non-combat deaths in 2024, 35 in 2025 and 33 so far in 2026.

The historical data through 2023 includes both Armenia’s Armed Forces and the Artsakh Defense Army, while the more recent figures concern Armenia’s Armed Forces. Since the beginning of 2024 alone, 104 servicemen have died in non-combat circumstances.

The scale is particularly striking given that Armenia has not recorded a serviceman killed by a ceasefire violation since February 2024. Yet servicemen continue to die from suicides, homicides, accidents, health-related causes and other non-combat incidents, raising serious questions about conditions, accountability and the protection of servicemen inside the Armed Forces.