Armenia sends 50 wartime remain samples to Netherlands for DNA analysis

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian government has sent another 50 bone tissue samples collected from the remains of the victims of the Second Karabakh War to the Netherlands to separate DNA from the cells and identify the bodies, Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan told reporters on Thursday, July 21.

Avanesyan said when the results are ready, health authorities will provide additional information.

According to a proposal approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on Thursday, July 14, many unrecognizably altered, dismembered, skeletonized or burned remains and bodies have been identified in Armenia since the end of the war.

Furthermore, 100 samples were sent to the International Commission on Missing Persons in the Netherlands for identification, with financing from the USAID.

However, because there are still samples whose DNA can't be separated, the Ministry of Health has decided to send 50 more samples to the Netherlands.

Avanesyan said in March 2021 that the country wouldn't be able to identify some of the remains of the victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh war as decomposition had erased all identifiable features. She said some of the bodies are severely damaged, which means they could not be identified even through DNA analysis.