ICRC representatives visit Armenian captive in Azerbaijani prison
Representatives of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) visited an Armenian prisoner of war in Azerbaijan on September 7, Zara Amatuni, press officer for ICRC delegation in Armenia, told Armenia-Novosti agency.
She said the ICRC provided the captive’s family with the opportunity to get information about him. She refused to provide information about the state of the captive’s health and conditions of detention, as well as tell his name.
However, according to the Armenian Service of the RFE/RL, the captive is Arsen Baghdasaryan, who has been in captivity since December, 2014. In 2015, he was convicted by a court in Ganja to 15 years in prison, after being found guilty of membership in a criminal organization, attempted murder, carrying out arson or fire on the territory of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan claims that Baghdasaryan is a saboteur and was captured in the course of neutralization of Armenian reconnaissance commando group in Aghdam.
However, the Nagorno-Karabakh defense ministry says Baghdasaryan was a contract serviceman, but was temporarily suspended from service for repeated AWOLs. -0-