DNA Samples Submitted for Missing Brother, One Matches Remains from Jabrayil, Another from Zangelan, Says Mother of Missing Soldier

“I won’t take the remains, I won’t hold a funeral until I send them abroad for examination. They tell me my son’s remains have been found to silence me,” said Anahit Atoyan, the mother of missing soldier Vardan Atoyan from the Echmiadzin N military unit, in an interview with Tert.am. She emphasized that out of the 41 missing soldiers, only in one case has a parent unexpectedly conducted a burial after a DNA match, while the others have not taken the remains.

“We gave our children in full; they should give them back. There was automatic gunfire; the equipment didn’t work, they didn’t have grenades, they fought against the enemy. The bodies should have been complete, but for some reason, there’s a toe from a foot, a piece from an arm. In the Zangelan area, only my brother’s remains did not have a DNA match, but in no case were there more than two remains for anyone. We have every reason to be confident that these are not our children’s remains. The authorities have a fixed number of victims; those who are naive will take them,” she said.

Anahit Atoyan also noted that there have been cases where DNA identification has proven to be incorrect.

“One of the missing boys from our group has no parents, but has two brothers. DNA was submitted for the missing brother, and in one brother's case, it matched remains from Zangelan, while in the other brother's sample, it matched remains from Jabrayil. As a result, one foot was found to be from Jabrayil, the other from Zangelan. That’s how they’re doing the DNA tests,” she explained.

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