Significant Developments in the Prisoner Exchange Process: Tigran Avinyan

On December 10, a meeting of the Interagency Commission on Issues of Prisoners, Hostages, and Missing Persons was held under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan. In his speech, the deputy prime minister stated, "Today we will discuss in detail matters pertaining to the ongoing negotiations for the exchange of prisoners, the efforts being made to locate missing persons, and the identification of deceased individuals. I believe there is no need to emphasize once again that these issues are a top priority on the government's agenda, and the involved agencies must operate as swiftly and efficiently as possible.

You are aware that we have some developments in the prisoner exchange process; three Armenian civilian detainees were transferred from Azerbaijan to Armenia last night (December 9) with the mediation of Russian peacekeepers. Currently, both the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides have provided their lists of detainees to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The process of verifying these lists is now underway. As we have announced, in the prisoner exchange process, we have proposed to implement the principle of 'all for all,' as well as to create a mechanism whereby, in the event of the discovery of new detainees, each side is obliged to return them unconditionally.

I should note that everything possible is being done to expedite the exchange process. Today we will also discuss necessary legislative changes, and to some extent, we will address the issues related to improving the effectiveness of search operations, the challenges associated with DNA research, providing psychological support, and operational matters related to the hotline.

During the meeting, ways to accelerate the process of DNA analysis for the identification of deceased individuals were discussed. The Ministry of Health is acquiring an additional workflow for legal genetic identification studies, which will enable further acceleration of the identification process. Commission members thoroughly addressed issues regarding financial assistance to families of missing servicemen, the development of psychological support programs, the implementation of psychological rehabilitation systems, and the possibilities of medical-social expertise for individuals in healthcare facilities who do not have identification documents.

The deputy prime minister has issued relevant directives to the agencies regarding all of the aforementioned issues.