Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry has rebuffed the reports claiming the extraction of internal organs of deceased servicemen for sale that have been circulating in the press in past days.

"Following the false reports about the death of soldier Tayfur Bayov in Nakhchivan military unit on August 6, who died of vasculitis, some 'military experts' and 'scribblers' do not cease publications on the extraction of the internal organs of deceased servicemen," said Rasim Aliyev, head of the Defense Ministry's Forensic Medical Examination Center.

"Both in civilian and military conditions, the body is anatomized for examination and samples from body parts are taken for histological, chemical, biological and criminal investigation to identify the causes of death," Aliyev said. "This process is carried out in accordance with a written permission of law-enforcement bodies for the final clarification of the cause of death."

Aliyev said parents or other close relatives of the deceased are usually present during the examination of the body authorized by the prosecutor. The body, regardless of the cause of death, is anatomized.

Aliyev noted that, according to the rules of the examination, three cavities of the corpse are anatomized during the examination - cranial, thoracic and abdominal cavity. The organs are taken from the cavities by a forensic expert, examined and then returned back. After that the cavities are sutured.

Aliyev says that elsewhere in the world examination of the body is carried out likewise and no one tries to interpret it as extraction of internal organs for sale.

"At least because they know that parts of the dead body are not useful, they do not show ignorance as our local 'experts' or 'scribblers' do," Aliyev said.

"We are not going to remain indifferent to this filthy campaign launched against the Defense Ministry," he said. "'Military expert' Alakbar Mammadov claimed that body parts of soldiers could be useful for some oligarchs, who need transplantation of body parts. I think I will sue Alakbar Mammadov for these claims. Let him prove what he said."