“A long time has passed since the conflict, and the bone samples taken from the discovered graves have been seriously degraded, especially due to environmental factors.”
elchi reports that this was stated by Major General of Medical Service Rufat Aliyev, Head of the Main Military Medical Department of the State Security Service, at the international conference on “Modern approaches and strengthening cooperation in solving the issue of missing persons,” held in cooperation with the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP).
He noted that DNA fragmentation and chemical damage create serious obstacles to obtaining genetic profiles: “Thanks to the application of enhanced protocols and other methods by specialists, it has been possible to perform difficult genetic tasks at the forensic medical examination stage: “So far, genetic identification of 327 missing persons has been carried out at the Main Military Medical Department.”