A new analytical method has revealed the identity of missing persons whose skeletal remains were treated with chemicals, previously making an analysis impossible, Humanitarian Affairs Commissioner Anna Aristotelous said on Tuesday.

“This is a very important development,” the commissioner told MPs at the House refugees committee.

She said the method was used to clarify identities of some missing persons among the cases of eight families suspected to have been given wrong bones of their relatives between 1979 and 1981.

The method identified one Greek national and matched remains to eight previously identified individuals, confirming with 99.9 per cent accuracy their identity, which far exceeded international standards, Aristotelous said.

In this context, she highlighted how important the understanding of the families of the missing was, saying when she visited them in Greece “instead of anger and reaction they showed a greatness of soul” by sending back the bones and allowing for further analysis.

Within the last two years a 15 people have been identified, 14 of which concerned people from the Greek forces (Eldyk).