Head of Armenian MPH apologizes for storage conditions for bodies of those who perished in Karabakh

The Armenian Ministry of Public Health (MPH) will check the information that the bodies of soldiers killed in Nagorno-Karabakh were stored in bags in the basement of the forensic medical examination centre. This was reported by Anait Avanesyan, the acting head of the MPH, who apologized to casualties' relatives.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 31, relatives of the militaries, who disappeared during the autumn war in Nagorno-Karabakh, held a protest action in Yerevan, pointing to the discrepancies in the official data on the number of bodies found. The bodies were stored in refrigerators, but "now they have brought them in and are hastily handing over to their relatives," said a participant in the action.

On May 25, Karabakh rescuers reported that the remains of 1557 people were found in the area of the hostilities. On May 11, the President of Azerbaijan announced that all the soldiers who were captured during the autumn war and about 1600 bodies of dead Armenian soldiers had been returned to Armenia.

Ms Avanesyan apologized to the relatives of the dead soldiers in connection with "improper storage of bodies and remains" at the Abovyan branch of the Forensic Medical Examination Centre.

She has assured that the forensic centre "has made every effort" to conduct examinations and identification of the bodies.