Daughter of Armenian woman who died in Azerbaijan-occupied Stepanakert wants to bury her in Armenia

The relatives of Armenian woman Vera Aghasyan, 70, who died on October 20 in Stepanakert, the capital of Azerbaijani occupied Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), are going to petition to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to have her buried in Armenia. Aghasyan’s 32-year-old daughter stated this in an interview with NEWS.am Friday, adding that Vera Aghasyan has four children, but they could not convince her to come to Armenia.

“My mother lived in the village. During the war [in 2020], I moved to Armenia with my three minor children, I did not know that my mother stayed there. Then I constantly was convincing her to come to Armenia, but she did not want to. My mother had mental health issues.

I petitioned also to the International Committee of the Red Cross several times, but they said that they cannot bring my mother by force if she does not want to [come]. I haven’t been able to talk to my mother in the past six months. I didn’t even know that she was sick. I learned about her death a few days ago. I am going to petition to the International Committee of the Red Cross so that my mother’s body can be brought to Armenia and we can bury her here,” said Vera Aghasyan’s daughter.

And Zara Amatuni, Communication and Prevention Program Manager of the ICRC Armenia office, told NEWS.am that the ICRC is in contact with the relatives of the deceased and is ready to assist in the implementation of future steps that her family will need and that will be agreed with the authorities.

Earlier we reported about the death of Vera Aghasyan, an Armenian woman who stayed in Stepanakert after the ongoing Azerbaijani occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh. The cause of death of this 70-year-old woman was announced as acute cardiopulmonary failure, which had developed as a result of pulmonary artery thrombosis.