The number of servicemen and civilians killed in the aftermath of the 2020 war is 3,825, of whom 1,434 were identified through forensic genetic testing. The post-war forensic examination process to determine the identities of the victims is ongoing.
Rafayel Vardanyan ( Head of the Department of Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of General Military Investigative Department of the RA Investigative Committee) - There are relics, which are samples of special complexity, their genetic profile is quite difficult to find out, the examinations are repeated several times in that direction. There are those who have been recognized but their parents have not buried them, there are those who have not been identified yet, that is, they have not been identified by genetic testing.
The Forensic Medical Center states that there are no new relics at the moment. Here they continue to work with specimens from which a complete genetic description has not yet been obtained. According to the expert, a lot of time has passed, which has complicated the process of DNA identification.
Diana Harutyunyan (Expert of the Molecular Genetics Examinations Department of the Forensic Medical Scientific-Practical Center of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia) - We will work hard to have identifications as much as possible so that no bone tissue remains incomplete, i.e. unsuitable.
In 2021, under an agreement with the Ministry of Health and the International Commission on Missing Persons, 100 specimens were sent to the Netherlands for forensic genetic testing. According to Rafayel Vardanyan, a preliminary agreement was reached at a recent meeting of the head of the International Commission on Missing Persons and the Chairman of the Investigative Committee to send 100 samples of special complexity to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Diana Harutyunyan - We sent the samples from which we did not receive a complete geological description. After receiving the answer, we had new identifications, and new identified relics, we did not have a contradictory answer.
ICRC REPRESENTATIVES VISIT ARMENIAN CAPTIVES
According to the Investigative Committee, the whereabouts of 205 people are currently unknown. Including the fate of 24 of the 62 crew members who were blockaded in Kovsakan in October 2020. The preliminary investigation of this case was completed a few days ago, high-ranking officers of the Armed Forces were charged.
Azerbaijan is currently confirming the capture of 38 people, who, by the way, were once again visited by representatives of the Red Cross Committee.
Zara Amatuni (Head of Communication Programs of the ICRC Delegation in Armenia) - The visits were in the form of a private conversation, everyone was given the opportunity to contact the family, to be informed about family news.
Amatuni mentioned that they also visited Eduard Martirosov, an Armenian conscript kept in Azerbaijan. On April 23, the contact with him was lost on the way from a military base to a military position. This was the second visit of the Red Cross delegates to Martirosov.
