Investigative Committee Keeps Secret on Misburials of War Victims' Remains

The Investigative Committee is keeping secret cases of misburials of the remains of soldiers who died in the war. Specifically, weeks ago, NEWS.am submitted a written inquiry to the Investigative Committee to determine how many decisions have been made regarding the exhumation of the bodies of those who died in the 2020 war based on Article 219 of the RA Criminal Procedure Code from the start of the war to February 1 of this year, and whether cases of mistakenly burying other bodies have been identified.

In response from the Committee, it was stated that due to the secrecy of the preliminary investigation of the criminal case being conducted by the Main Department of Special Assignments, Organizational Analysis, and Forensic Expertise, the prosecuting authority does not find it appropriate to provide information on the queried data at this stage of the investigation.

According to our information, there have been at least a dozen cases of misburials of soldiers' remains in the country to date, with four of them occurring in the Lori Province alone. As a result, exhumations have been carried out both at the "Yerevan Brul" military pantheon and in regional cemeteries, but all cases have taken place under secret conditions, in the presence of investigators and relatives.

Particularly, last year, Major Harutyun Nalbandyan was mistakenly buried in "Yerevan Brul." According to his father, Gevorg Nalbandyan, a criminal case was initiated, and at the request of the Armenian Human Rights Defender, exhumation took place on the night of January 21-22. As a result of DNA testing, the remains of the victim were identified, and he was buried in the Vanadzor Heroes' Pantheon. Notably, Harutyun Nalbandyan was brought from Artsakh in a closed coffin and was buried under the name of another soldier without DNA testing.

Due to similar cases, parents of fallen and missing soldiers have repeatedly questioned the credibility of the DNA test results in public speeches. For example, a month ago, the father of a missing soldier, who held a protest in front of the government building, stated: "I have not seen anyone whose child was found by DNA and returned to them. Anyone who was found and buried, the next day they found out it was not their child." In response, the Ministry of Health announced that there has not been a case where it became clear after burial that the DNA result was incorrect. It should be noted that most cases of misburials are related to the identification of unrecognizable bodies of victims without DNA testing.