Armenia grants political asylum to Azerbaijani family

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia will grant a political asylum to an Azeri family of 5 who claim persecution by security services at home, the chief of state migration service told PanARMENIAN.Net

A 37-year-old citizen of Azerbaijan Javid Orujev, his wife and three children applied to the Armenian side at the Bagratashen checkpoint at the Armenian-Georgian border on January 29. Orujev was under pressure from Azerbaijan’s special services ever after marrying a Baku resident of Armenian origin. In particular, he had been forced into trying to obtain data about Armenia and its Diaspora through the relatives of his ethnic Armenian wife, identified as 30-year-old Roya Mirzoyeva, and for that purpose he also unsuccessfully tried to become a resident of a European country. After deportation to Baku, Orujev asked for a political asylum in Armenia.

According to Gagik Yeghanyan, the family is given a refugee status and an asylum in Armenia, which, however does not stipulate for provision of accomodations, rather protection of safety on the territory of Armenia.

Meanwhile, as Acting Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan announced Monday, April 7, " Armenia carries out serious work to return Hakob Injighulyan and Arsen Khojoyan held in Azerbaijani captivity.”

“The work is underway,” he added.

Ohanyan noted that Azerbaijan wants POW Hakob Injighulyan to be transferred to a third country, which, according to him, “is a violation of international norms.”

The official also noted that the absence of direct contacts with Azerbaijan complicates the process.

23-year-old Armenian citizen Arsen Khojoyan crossed into Azerbaijan on March 7, 2014. Hakob Injighulyan, an Armenian citizen and an army conscript, crossed the Azeri border and was subsequently captured by Azeri soldiers on the night of August 7-8, 2013, Panorama.am reported.