Caucasus Muslims Office chair meets Armenian captive at Karekin II request

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Office Sheik-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade met with Armenian captive Hakob Injighulyan at the request of the Catholicos of All Armenians His Holiness Karekin II.

According to APA, following the November 1 meeting, Sheik-ul-Islam announced that the captive’s detention conditions are satisfactory. “He’s taken care of,” Pashazade said.

In mid-October media was circulating reports suggesting the Armenian captive was to be moved to a third country from Azerbaijan. He information, however, hadn’t been confirmed at the Yerevan Office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The report was published by an Armenian media source with a reference to Injighulyan’s cousin Arman. The latter, however, refuted the information in a conversation with PanARMENIAN.Net noting that Hakob never expressed intention to leave for a third country. “Representatives of the ICRC informed us about such an opportunity,” he said.

On October 14, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross met with Injighulyan in Azerbaijan.

As media contact person for the ICRC Delegation to Armenia, Zara Amatuni told PanARMENIAN.Net the ICRC members conveyed a letter from the family to the Armenian serviceman.

No other details of the meeting were disclosed.

On the night of August 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.

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.