Azernews.Az

By Vugar Khalilov

Military attachés, accredited to Azerbaijan, have inspected a recently discovered mass grave site in Khojavand District’s Edilli village, Azernews reports.

Employees of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, the Defense Ministry, and the Association of Forensic Medical Examination and Pathological Anatomy of the Azerbaijani Health Ministry accompanied the foreign military representatives.

Maj-Gen Huseyn Mahmudov, chief of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry's International Military Cooperation Department, informed the military attachés on the mass graves in Edilli, underlining that this is the third mass grave discovered in the village.

Mahmudov briefed military officials about grave violations of the norms and principles of international humanitarian law by illegal Armenian military formations and the Armenian armed forces in Azerbaijan during the first Karabakh war (1988-1994).

The evidence of the capture, torture, and murder of presumed Azerbaijani military personnel was presented. Mahmudov underlined that the clothing and items found in the mass burial site indicate that the remains belong to servicemen. He also highlighted that the skeletons had their hands and legs tied with wire and rope.

The first two were discovered with the remains of seven and six persons, respectively, while the third was unearthed with the remains of 12 Azerbaijani military personnel tortured to death.

The initial examination revealed traumatic brain injuries produced by a blunt object at the base of the skull, as well as gunshots and puncture wounds with a sharp tool.

Mahmudov added that nothing is known concerning the fate of up to 4000 civilians and prisoners of war who went missing as a result of the Armenian invasion.

The probe will be continued around 4,000 Azerbaijanis who went missing during the first Karabakh war. It is also probable that hundreds of identical burials exist in other parts of Karabakh.

The military attachés then visited one of the military units to familiarize themselves with the circumstances set up for military personnel.

On October 4, another mass grave of Azerbaijani military personnel, killed by the Armenian armed forces in the first Karabakh war (1988-1994), was found in Khojavand District’s Edilli village.

Samples were gathered from the bone remains and submitted to a forensic molecular-genetic study after assigning the required experts in the case.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz