Samvel and Arsen Stepanyan, two close brothers, died on September 19 in a battle for the homeland. The funeral of the brothers took place on October 10 at the military pantheon “Yerablur” in Yerevan. Samvel and Arsen Stepanyan were from Martakert. Samvel and Arsen were conscripts. Arsen was killed at Chankatagh on September 19 and Samvel was killed at 4 a.m. on the 20th, during combat operations, only a day apart.

Neither Arsen nor Samvel heard from them until the next day, when the boys’ grandmother, Alvina, went to Arsen’s friend’s house. The neighbor said that they had brought back the bodies of 9 people from Yeghnik. He asked if Samvel was among them. They did not receive a response. He understands that the eldest grandson is not there and that they have not heard from the youngest. Until September 24, the Stepanyans did not hear from their youngest son.

The Stepanyans were informed of the death of their youngest son on September 27. “The bodies were unrecognizable, I understood from the clothes that it was Arsen. After Samvel’s death, I saw him three times, but I did not see Arsen,” their mother, Alla, told journalists .

The corpses of Arsen and other comrades in arms were removed from the battlefield by Arsen’s friend Vardan. “No one from the command was there to at least remove the child’s corpse, that’s why none of them participated in the funeral; on the morning of September 27, they came and said that “Martakert had to be emptied. Samvel’s body was not yet among us. I said that I would not leave until my son’s body was given to me. As long as I stayed, the others would stay with me . On September 28, Samvel’s body was brought and transferred to Yerevan, and we left the city,” Alla said.

Relatives and friends of the family took part in the funeral. Alla said none of the children’s officers came, she noted that the conditions under which the children were shot are not determined, perhaps they did not come to the funeral out of shame.