Lawyer: Armenian authorities  misleading international  representatives regarding missing persons

ArmInfo. Armenian authorities are misleading international representatives regarding  missing persons and the actions they are taking to clarify their  fate, as stated by lawyer Tatevik Soghoyan  in an interview with  reporters during a protest of relatives of missing Armenians outside  the  government building.

She said she had met with representatives of the International  Commission on Missing Persons, which received a grant from the Dutch  government in 2022 to clarify the fate of those who went missing  during the 44-day war of 2020. "Based on the results of extensive  research, a report was prepared, which was presented in December  2023. The report was later published on the organization's official  website," Soghoyan said.

According to the lawyer, it was this report that made it clear that  the Armenian authorities were misleading their international  colleagues. Specifically, as the lawyer clarified, they claim to  provide assistance to the relatives of missing persons, such as  offering psychological services when they need to report the death of  a loved one.

Soghoyan also stated that, according to her information, this report  was removed from the Commission's website at the request of the  Armenian authorities. "In this regard, the International Commission  noted that while previously only the Azerbaijani side had hindered  the work to determine the fate of missing persons, now the Armenian  authorities are also hindering it," the lawyer noted.

The International Commission, Soghoyan continued, has assured that  the concerns of the relatives of missing persons are their primary  focus. They have also announced their intention to travel to  Azerbaijan to investigate the situation on the ground. "The  commission's experts have been working to determine the fate of  missing Armenians for three years now, and they essentially expected  at least one side would show interest in these processes. Of course,  they didn't expect the Armenian authorities to suspend the process.   This has inevitably influenced the experts' attitude," the lawyer  concluded.