Azerbaijan announces burial of Aghasyan’s body in case of Armenian non-retrieval by January 2025

Azerbaijan’s State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons has announced that if the Armenian authorities do not retrieve the body of Vera Varashakovna Aghasyan, a deceased resident of Khankandi, by the end of January 2025, she will be buried within Azerbaijan’s territory.

Aghasyan, born in 1954, passed away on October 20, 2024, at her residence in Khankandi around 9:10 a.m, Caliber.Az reports.

According to the Ministry of Health, a forensic medical examination determined the cause of her death as acute pulmonary and heart failure, resulting from pulmonary artery thrombosis. The Ministry of Health also confirmed that Aghasyan had received medical attention and social protection support prior to her passing.

The State Commission for Prisoners of War, Missing Persons, and Hostages promptly informed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Azerbaijan of Aghasyan’s death and requested that Armenian authorities, as well as Aghasyan’s family members, be notified.

Subsequently, the commission made an official request to the ICRC for the transfer of Aghasyan’s body to Armenia for burial, in accordance with the wishes of her children. Azerbaijan took the necessary steps for this humanitarian process, including obtaining and notarizing the medical and death certificates, with the documents translated into English and Apostille certified. The transfer was planned for October 29 or 30, 2024, at the Lachin border checkpoint, through the mediation of the ICRC. However, despite nearly two months passing since the request, no response from the Armenian side was received, even after repeated inquiries by the ICRC.

The commission has since raised concerns that Aghasyan’s children, who had previously shown little interest in their mother’s well-being, only requested the body’s transfer after her death, with suspicions that this may be part of a broader propaganda strategy. It is believed that the Armenian side hoped Azerbaijan would reject the request for the body’s transfer, using this as a political tool to criticize Azerbaijan ahead of the COP29 conference. However, upon seeing that Azerbaijan was willing to facilitate the process, the matter lost its political significance.

The State Commission emphasized that the politicization of a deceased individual’s body, regardless of nationality or religion, undermines humanitarian law and values. Azerbaijan reiterated its commitment to international humanitarian law and declared its readiness to transfer Aghasyan’s body to the Armenian side. 

However, due to the time-sensitive nature of preserving human remains, the commission stated that if the Armenian authorities do not claim the body by the end of January 2025, Aghasyan will be buried in Azerbaijan, and her grave will be properly protected in accordance with religious customs and relevant scientific advice.

On October 20, between 09:00 and 10:00, the body of Vera Varashakovna Agasyan was discovered near a healthcare facility (shelter) for vulnerable groups under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, located in the city of Khankandi. The body was found by shelter staff on the stairwell of the first floor of a residential building near the social institution. Vera Agasyan, who had been living in the shelter, claimed that the first entrance of the building belonged to her and often visited the place to clean.

The Khankandi city prosecutor's office conducted a scene investigation, preliminary examination, and other necessary investigative actions.

The body was transferred to the morgue in the city of Barda. According to the preliminary forensic diagnosis, the cause of death was chronic ischemic heart disease, atherosclerotic cardiosclerosis, pulmonary oedema, focal haemorrhages, and pulmonary artery thrombosis.

According to the information from the State Migration Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan, on October 20, 2023, during an appointment in the city of Khankendi, Vera Varashakovna Agasyan stated that she was born on November 11, 1954, in the village of Khindiristan in the Asgaran district. After starting a family, she moved to the village of Pirr (Khramor) in the same district. Following the 2020 Patriotic War, she returned to live in the village of Khindiristan. The woman also mentioned that her husband had passed away and that she has four children, with whom she has no contact. Agasyan expressed her desire to acquire citizenship of the Republic of Azerbaijan and live in Azerbaijan.

Her son, who had never previously contacted his mother living in Azerbaijan or shown any interest in her, reached out to the ICRC requesting assistance in transporting his deceased mother’s body to Armenia for burial. The Azerbaijani side promptly took the necessary preparatory steps to facilitate this humanitarian process. The plan was to transfer Agasyan’s body to the relevant Armenian authorities at the Lachin checkpoint with the mediation of the ICRC on October 29 or 30. Moreover, the Azerbaijani side informed Armenia of this arrangement through the ICRC. However, as of now, no response has been received from the Armenian side, despite multiple inquiries to the ICRC representative office in Azerbaijan.

It is evident that the children of Vera Agasyan (as well as the corresponding Armenian structures behind them), who had never cared for their mother but suddenly became eager to bury her specifically in Armenia, have now lost all interest in the process. Why? Because in Armenia, they naively assumed that Azerbaijan would refuse to hand over the body, and this fact was planned to be used politically against Azerbaijan ahead of COP29.

However, once Azerbaijan immediately declared its readiness to facilitate the humanitarian process, the Armenian side’s plans and those of its backers collapsed, and the issue of Vera Agasyan’s burial ceased to hold any relevance for them.

By Vafa Guliyeva