Conditions for Storing Remains of Fallen Soldiers Did Not Meet Requirements: Investigative Committee

The Investigative Committee of Armenia is conducting an inquiry within the Kotayk regional division to determine violations that occurred during the storage of the remains of soldiers who died during the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh on September 27, 2020.

On May 31, 2021, information was received indicating that in the forensic examination division of the Ministry of Health's Kotayk region center, bodies were being stored in rooms not intended for this purpose.

During the preparation of materials regarding the incident, evidence was collected showing that the remains of fallen soldiers were moved in polyethylene bags to the basement of the Kotayk region center's forensic examination division. The head of this division, being previously informed about the lack of available space in the refrigerators for storing bodies, accepted and stored the aforementioned remains in the basement on May 28, 2021, without any justification or documentation.

It has been established that the rooms where the bodies and remains were transferred lacked the necessary conditions for storage, specifically ventilation and thermal systems, as recorded during the site inspection on May 31, 2021, along with other investigative actions.

Considering that there are legal grounds for initiating a criminal case in the prepared materials, a criminal case has been initiated at the Kotayk regional prosecutor's office on the grounds of abuse of official powers, which has been sent to the Abovyan investigative division of the Kotayk regional investigative department of the Investigative Committee of Armenia and accepted for proceedings.

Notice: A suspect or accused in an alleged crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court in accordance with the law of the Republic of Armenia.