Ex-Artsakh president presses for reburial of 66 people killed in 2023

Former Artsakh President Samvel Shahramanyan has announced that authorities are seeking the exhumation and transfer to Armenia of 66 people killed in 2023 and buried in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Speaking at Yerevan’s Yerablur Military Pantheon on September 19, marking the second anniversary of Azerbaijan’s large-scale attack on Artsakh and its subsequent depopulation, Shahramanyan said the victims had been laid to rest in Stepanakert’s Brothers Cemetery and in regional graveyards.

“We raised the issue with the Armenian authorities as well as with Azerbaijani officials. We reached an agreement, but it remains unimplemented,” he told reporters.

Shahramanyan added that authorities have also pressed for clarification regarding missing persons and the release of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan.

The ex-president also dismissed claims that he had participated in talks in Yevlakh, insisting he had never been there. “No documents were signed. Discussions concerned only humanitarian issues. The circulating rumors are false,” he said.