Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) reports that nine individuals have been charged with embezzling large sums of money from relatives of Armenian servicemen who went missing or taken prisoner during last year’s war in Artsakh.

The PGO sates that the nine individuals, posing as high-ranking servicemen or having close ties to the National Security Service and other security services, told the relatives they had information about the missing servicemen and, in the case of POWs, could mediate on their behalf.

Those charged told relatives that, for a price, they could use their personal connections to have the servicemen freed or at least see that they receive medical attention while in prison.

The PGO says that eight of those charged are in pre-trial detention and that one has signed a personal pledge not to flee.