Armenia, Azerbaijan meet to clarify fate of missing persons

ArmInfo. On February 7, a meeting was held on the Armenian- Azerbaijani border between the Interdepartmental Commission of Armenia on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons and the State Commission of Azerbaijan on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons. 

As reported by the press service of the National Security Service of  Armenia, during the meeting the parties exchanged views on issues  related to clarifying the fate of missing persons and reached an  agreement to continue bilateral discussions.

Note the exact number of Armenian prisoners of war and hostages held  in Azerbaijani prisons is still unknown. According to the latest data  from the International Committee of the Red Cross, as of August 2024,  about 1,000 people are considered missing on the Armenian side, with  approximately 300 people considered as missing following the latest  escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone from autumn 2020 to  autumn 2023. Moreover, all data was collected by the ICRC based on  appeals from the missing persons' relatives. ICRC also reported that  within these 300 people, there are several dozen cases where the  family disputed the DNA data provided by the state.