Former Armenian POW recollects Azerbaijani captivity

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian soldier Hakob Injighulyan has been kept in the Azerbaijani captivity for 4 months already. Still, there is no information on how and under what circumstances he announced a wish to move to a third country.

To understand how Azeris force captured Armenian servicemen to choose a third country instead of returning to the homeland, a Zhoghovrud paper reporter talked to former POW Yeghia Hunanyan, who spent 2 months and 20 days in the Azerbaijani captivity.

“The Azerbaijani generals were trying to find out how many soldiers we have, as well as the number of weapons and tanks in the army. When they understood that we are not telling the truth, they beat us severely,” Hunanyan said.

He also said that Azeris were forcing them to select a third country as future residence. “Either stay in Azerbaijan or choose another country, except for Russia,” they used to say, according to Hunanyan.

On the night of Aug 8, Injighulyan, born in 1991, failed to find his bearings on the ground and crossed into the Azeri-controlled territory.

Azeri media outlets have been since spreading information suggesting the captive is unwilling to return to Armenia.

However, Injighulyan never mentioned his unwillingness to return to Armenia in a meeting with ICRC representatives, with Azerbaijani Prisoners of War Commission Secretary noting he sees no problem with the captive's return.

The captive’s cousin, Arman Injighulyan earlier told PanARMENIAN.Net that Hakob never expressed intention to leave for a third country. “Representatives of the ICRC informed us about such an opportunity,” he said.

Armenia has repeatedly slammed the “interviews” with Injighulyan as forced by Baku and urged the ICRC to take every effort to help the captive’s return, with no persecution to be initiated against him in the absence of crime in the act.