‘Parents Are Not Allowed to Enter the Morgue’: Naira Zohrabyan

Former MP Naira Zohrabyan writes on her page: ‘Parents are not allowed to enter the morgue. Azerbaijan transferred the bodies of 95 servicemen killed in the last three-day war to the Armenian side two days ago. Most of the bodies have been taken to the Martuni morgue, and for two days, numerous parents have been trying to enter the morgue to identify their sons' remains. All morgues in the republic where the boys' bodies have been transferred are guarded by security personnel, and parents can only recognize the bodies in the presence of investigators.

I spoke with the officials of the forensic medical center, and the procedure is as follows: all bodies transferred to the Armenian side are photographed and sent to the Ulmenee Center, which is responsible for responding to issues related to servicemen. Parents who can identify their sons through the photographs can only enter the morgue accompanied by an investigator. Unfortunately, many of the boys' bodies are unrecognizable and DNA identification must be performed. However, many parents say that there are special marks on their sons' bodies—such as scars or tattoos—that can be used for identification.

I have been informed that if facial identification is not possible, relatives can recognize their sons by special marks on the bodies. Again, they must report this to the Ulmenee Center, and I was assured that they would be accompanied to the morgue immediately with the investigator. Couldn’t some relevant authority publish the sequence of these simple steps so that parents already in an emotionally distressing state from Armavir, Shirak, Yerevan, or other places do not arrive in Martuni, only to be denied entry to the morgue? I understand that you have no regard for a parent who has lost a son, and as you did yesterday in Yerablur, you can beat a soldier's mother, but at least find one bureaucrat among you to officially publish this sequence of steps, so that a mother driven mad with grief does not arrive in Martuni and try to look inside the morgue from the window in her last hope of finding her fallen son.’