Vahagn Antonyan, part of the 2019 Rights Reframed cohort, is a journalist from Armenia. His project is a short documentary investigating one of many military deaths in Armenia during peacetime.
Deaths in non-combat situations are highly under-investigated and usually written off as suicides, accidental deaths, involuntary manslaughter, etc. Although individual families are deeply impacted by the unexplained loss of their loved ones, the injustices rarely enter public discussion.
Antonyan’s project looks through the lens of deaths in the military to bring attention to a more general disregard for human rights in the army. The project focuses on engaging Armenia’s youth as a key audience and using character-driven media to encourage public discussion. This is his first experience creating a media piece.