LEPL Levan Samkharauli National Forensic Bureau has identified 12 remains of soldiers fallen heroically in Abkhazia in fights for territorial integrity of Georgia.
Georgian soldiers will be buried with military funeral honors at the Dighomi Brothers’ Cemetery on 16 March, 2019. The identification process of remains of heroes was launched in September 2013 with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and continues to this day.
Under an agreement reached between Red Cross (ICRC) and National Forensic Bureau of Georgia, DNA experts of the National Forensic Bureau have collected and achieved 3733 DNA samples from family members of persons gone missing during the war of Abkhazia and armed conflicts of Tskhinvali. 3311 samples have been genotyped for further identification of missing persons.
Since 2013, with joint efforts of the Bureau, The Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civic Equality and The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the remains of 178 soldiers fallen in the conflicts in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali have been identified so far. The identification process of remains of soldiers’ fallen in Abkhazia is an ongoing process and the bureau will be will be engaged in the process to the end.
Bureau extends its condolences to the families of the deceased soldiers and honors the memory of the fallen heroes.