BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 6. A total of 212 cases have been initiated on crimes committed by Armenia against Azerbaijanis in 1988-1992, Senior Assistant to the Prosecutor General for Special Assignments, Junior Counselor of Justice Ilgar Safarov said at the joint briefing of the Prosecutor General's Office and the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the crimes committed by Armenia's armed forces and illegal formations against Azerbaijan since 1988 to the present day, Trend reports.
According to him, 3,890 Azerbaijani people went missing during the first Karabakh war that took place from 1988 to 1994, as a result of Armenia's gross violation of the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949 and Protocol Additional to the Conventions "On protection of victims of the international armed conflict" of June 8, 1977.
"Out of all missing persons, 3,171 people were military personnel, while 719 were civilians. A total of 872 people were taken prisoner. Out of 1,480 released people, 378 were servicemen, whereas 1,102 were civilians, including 224 children, 357 women and 225 elderly people. Among the 552 prisoners and hostages, 447 were male, 105 were female. Even though Armenia doesn't admit its crimes, the mass burial sites found in Farrukh, Dashalti, and Edilli villages, as well as the remains of Azerbaijanis who were shot with their hands and feet tied, serve as proof of atrocities committed by Armenia," Safarov said.
"On February 17, 2021, the remains of seven Azerbaijanis were discovered in Shusha's Dashalti village, on March 28-29, 2022 – in Khojaly's Farrukh village, on February 23-26, 2022, the remains of seven more persons (including one woman) were found in Khojavand's Ediilli village, and on September 15-29, 2022 the remains of 18 people were discovered in the Edilli village," he said.
"Since 2014, specialists from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have gathered 10,583 biological samples of family members of 3,400 persons who went missing in the first Karabakh war. The process of DNA sample taking from 490 relatives of missing persons is currently underway. Thus, 212 criminal proceedings have been initiated over crimes committed in 1988-1992 against the Azerbaijani people during the ceasefire period," Safarov added.