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The families of Armenian soldiers killed in a military barracks fire in January 2023 staged a protest in Yerevan’s central Republic Square on Wednesday as they continued to accuse Armenia’s authorities of trying to cover up their deaths and demanded an impartial investigation into the deadly incident.

Fifteen Armenian servicemen were killed and three others were severely injured following a major fire that broke out at the barracks of an engineer and sapper company in a military unit in Azat, a village in Armenia's Gegharkunik Province, on January 19.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Defense Minister Suren Papikyan announced shortly after the deadly incident that the fire was sparked by an officer who poured gasoline into a woodstove in violation of the fire safety rules.

The victims’ families distrust the official version, claiming their sons were dead when the fire erupted at the barracks.

Artyom Grigoryan, the grandfather of deceased soldier Aram Manukyan, believes the officer, Captain Yeghishe Hakobyan, was pushed into falsely confessing that he used gasoline to light a fire.

“Our children had been factually poisoned before the house fire. Otherwise, at least 2 out of 15 soldiers would have managed to escape it,” he told reporters.

The elderly man also said “Azerbaijani terrorists” could have entered the village and killed the Armenian servicemen.

Grigoryan said the families were disappointed following two meetings with Pashinyan.

He unveiled plans to take the case to international courts.