Fate of 50 missing people clarified in Azerbaijan

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The fate of 50 missing people was clarified in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People removed names of 50 people from the list of people having been missing during the Nagorno-Karabakh war, AzerTAj state news agency reported.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7 districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations without any results.

It was found out that 18 of these individuals had survived in the battles and encirclements, 20 had died during the combat operations and had been buried after the identification of the bodies, eight people had been repeatedly named in the list, as well as four people had been missing not in the conflict zone. “The total number of missing people and hostages is 4,166 people. 3,364 people out of them are servicemen and 795 civilians.

Amongst civilians, 47 have been under-age children, 255 – women and 354 – old people,” the same source said.
The analysis of materials received by the State Commission established that 552 people died in captivity – they were killed or died for various reasons. The names of 137 people are known and the names of 74 people remain unclear.

“Through the efforts of the Commission 1,396 prisoners and hostages were freed, including 343 women and 1353 men,” said in the message.