A total of 32 mass graves have been discovered in the territories of Azerbaijan liberated from occupation, according to the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons. The commission revealed that 3,999 individuals were registered as missing during the First Garabagh War, while six remain missing from the 44-day Patriotic War in 2020.
In a statement provided to the Operative Information Center-OMM, the State Commission detailed that of those missing from the First Garabagh War, 3,218 were military personnel and 781 were civilians. The civilian victims include 71 children, 287 women, and 319 elderly persons. To date, the remains of 877 individuals have been exhumed from these sites, with 309 successfully identified and 220 returned to their families for burial. Between January and April of this year alone, 46 sets of remains were exhumed, including 11 discovered in April.
The discovery of mass graves in areas such as Khojaly and Edilli highlights the humanitarian toll of the decades-long conflict. Azerbaijan has consistently called for international assistance and pressure on Armenia to provide information regarding the fate of missing persons and the locations of burial sites. Following the liberation of its territories in 2020, Azerbaijan has intensified search and exhumation operations to identify victims and provide closure to thousands of families who have waited decades for news of their loved ones.
