Marina Hayrapetyan lived all her 53 years in the Artsakh village of Drakhtik with her parents.

Hayrapetyan, who faced mental health issues since birth, never left the village when Azerbaijani troops attacked in October 2020.

A search party found her remains in the yard of the family house in January 2021.

 On September 30, 2020, three days after Azerbaijan attacked Artsakh, the son of Marina’s sister Susanna, serving in the Artsakh Defense Force, was seriously wounded and taken to Yerevan. On October 12, Marins's parents went to Yerevan to visit their grandson, but could not return to the Drakhtik since Azerbaijani troops had advanced quite close. 

Azerbaijani troops captured the village on October 21, 2020. Marina, who refused to leave, was killed.

Susanna, told Hetq that the family never expected that the village would be captured, thus preventing them to return.

Drakhtik Mayor Vitaly Mirzoyan says that the evacuation of the village started after October 10, when Azerbaijani troops occupied the nearby regional capital of Hadrut. 

Almost the entire population of Drakhtik was evacuated, leaving forty people behind. 

Mirzoyan says Marina's nephew regularly visited her a few days before the capture of the village, taking her food and water, but she refused to leave.

Marina Hayrapetyan was buried in Stepanakert’s Armenavan district on November 6, 2020.

She leaves behind her passport and lasting memories shared by friends and family.

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