Armenia says working on return of civilian from captivity in Azerbaijan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Chairman of the Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, acting Defense Minister David Tonoyan on Thursday, November 29 met the parents of Karen Ghazaryan, a resident of a Armenian border village who is being held captive in Azerbaijan.

At the meeting, Ghazaryan's parents expressed concern over the possible deterioration of their son’s health, given the conditions of his detention in Azerbaijan and the ongoing trial.

They reminded that after concluding compulsory military service in 2006, Ghazaryan no longer served in the ranks of the country's Armed Forces.

Tonoyan said, meanwhile, that the Armenian side is intensively working to return the civilian to Armenia, cooperating with both with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Also, the acting Defense Minister expressed hope that the Azerbaijani authorities would not consider the humanitarian problem of returning Ghazaryan to his homeland in the context of the exchange of prisoners of war between the conflicting parties.

The Ganja Court on Grave Crimes in Azerbaijan has began the trial of the hostage who is accused of “attempting to commit a terror attack.”

The Armenian Defense Ministry has said in the past that Ghazaryan (b. 1984) doesn’t serve in the army and has never been drafted. The police revealed, in turn, that the man has health issues and has been registered in a medical facility since 2013.