Relatives of missing servicemen block Baghramyan Avenue for third day 

ArmInfo. Relatives of missing servicemen continue their protest in front of the Armenian parliament building for the third day, blocking Baghramyan Street due to the  dismissal of the head of the National Security Service of Armenia  Armen Abazyan.

The parents insistently demand an explanation regarding the reasons  for his resignation, which took place by decision of Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan. As the prime minister himself explained, the reason  for the dismissal was that Abazyan had held this position for quite a  long time. However, it is worth noting that, according to the  parents, this decision coincided with the moment when they had the  first progress in the search for the missing servicemen, including  certain agreements with the Azerbaijani side. They claim that Abazyan  was supposed to hold a meeting with representatives of Azerbaijan in  June.

The parents explained that certain steps had already been outlined in  this direction, and the signing of agreements was expected that would  facilitate the search for the missing and forcibly disappeared.   According to them, Abazyan's dismissal creates the risk that the  process could reach a dead end again, since he was the one who was  well acquainted with all the nuances and had success in this matter.

In a conversation with journalists, the parents said that there has  been no news yet about who will take up the case of the missing  servicemen after Abazyan's dismissal. "It seems that we are not  asking for much - we need to understand who will now take up this  issue. We know who will replace Abazyan, but our demand is to find  out who will take responsibility for the fate of our children," one  of the parents noted.

She also recalled that they had previously tried to arrange a meeting  with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.  However, he replied that he had  already met with them two weeks ago and suggested a new meeting in  two months. "When the deputy from the Armenia bloc Garnik Danielyan  told him that his parents were waiting for him and wanted to discuss  the situation, the prime minister did not react at all. For us,  Abazyan's dismissal was bad news, because he was the one who dealt  with our issue and promised to see it through to the end. Now we are  back at the "broken trough", - the parent noted. They are hoping for  a meeting with the new acting head of the NSS Andranik Simonyan. The  parents expect that he will come to get acquainted with the situation  and discuss further steps. If he does not show up, they intend to  make their demands in other ways. Let us recall that earlier the  prime minister signed a decision according to which the head of the  National Security Service Armen Abazyan was dismissed from his post.   Pashinyan assured that the reason for the dismissal was not the  information circulated in the media that Abazyan refused to carry out  the order to detain businessman Samvel Karapetyan. According to  Pashinyan, the latter "could not help but obey" his orders.

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  about 300 people being considered as such after the latest escalation  in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone in the period from autumn 2020  to autumn 2023. Moreover, all data was collected by the ICRC based on  appeals from the relatives of the missing persons themselves.

The ICRC also reported that among these 300 people, there are several  dozen appeals concerning cases where the family did not agree with  the DNA data provided by the state.