News - Karabakh ex-official: Confirmed death toll from war exceeds 220, not counting the missing

Artak Beglaryan, the former Minister of State of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), on Thursday presented some data on the current population of Artsakh, as well as the consequences of the 24-hour war and the explosion of a fuel depot in September. He wrote as follows. "1. According to my information, a maximum of 40 Armenians have remained in Artsakh under Azerbaijani rule, including supposedly lonely and helpless persons left in their homes, who could not be found until today. Searching for those persons was carried out by Artsakh rescuers—with certain positive results, and now, after the rescuers left—the Red Cross. There is clear information about the remaining 15 Armenians in Artsakh, who were seen and identified. They supposedly decided to voluntarily stay in Artsakh and accept the conditions of the Azerbaijani authorities regarding subjugation. As far as I know, the last representatives of the authorities of the Artsakh Republic left Artsakh yesterday, led by President Shahramanyan. Therefore, it can be said that exclusively the Azerbaijani occupation and genocidal power is already operating in the entire territory of Artsakh. 8 of the current and former officials of Artsakh were arrested and taken hostage by Azerbaijan on various fictitious charges. They are: former Presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, acting president of the National Assembly Davit Ishkhanyan, former state minister Ruben Vardanyan, former foreign minister Davit Babayan, former defense minister Levon Mnatsakanyan, former deputy defense minister Davit Manukyan. The authorized state bodies continue fact-finding efforts and update the lists regarding the casualties, injured, and missing persons as a result of the 24-hour war and the explosion of the fuel depot. According to my information, the confirmed death toll of the war exceeds 220, not counting the missing, and the bodies and remains of over 170 people, again not counting the missing, have been recovered from the fuel depot explosion site. I don't have any new information about missing persons and detainees; however, I am sure that in the near future the authorized bodies will make the relevant official updates. In any case, I would like to clarify a question that I have verified from several authorized bodies and officials, whether the conversations about the fact that as if after the explosion of the fuel depot, the Azerbaijani services took a group of injured people to them are true. All officials gave a clear negative answer. Therefore, unfortunately, the relatives of those missing as a result of the explosion have to search for their relatives among the bodies and remains found; in the case of unrecognizable bodies—through DNA analysis. It is also necessary to take into account the claim of experts and witnesses that some of the casualties of the explosion were completely burned in the fire, and no remains of them can be found. In addition to these irreversible losses suffered by hundreds of families, now the entire people of Artsakh have been forcibly displaced from their homeland, escaping the Azerbaijani genocide. In the near future, I will address also various matters regarding the number of displaced persons."