Azeris detained on Armenian border released with Russian peacekeepers' help

PanARMENIAN.Net - Two Azerbaijani servicemen, who were detained by the National Security Service of Armenia in the province of Syunik on January 30, have been released with the help of the Russian peacekeepers, the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry reports.

"With the mediation of the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, two servicemen of the armed forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan have been released," the statement from the Russian Defense Ministry reads.

In addition, on January 30, the medical detachment of the Russian peacekeeping contingent has evacuated 16 sick Azerbaijani troops from the Vank settlement to Maghavuz, Nagorno-Karabakh, where they were handed over to Azerbaijani doctors.

Several dozen Armenian POWs returned from Azerbaijan in mid-December, although Armenian officials said many more people were being held in Baku. Dozens of others, both servicemen and civilians, have been captured after the completion of military hostilities. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said in one of his speeches that the newly detained persons are not prisoners of war but “terrorists”. Human rights lawyer Siranush Sahakyan has said, meanwhile, that at least 120 Armenian prisoners of war are being held in Azerbaijan. Sahakyan represents the rights of some of the Karabakh POWs before the European Court of Human Rights. The lawyer said there is enough evidence proving the capture of said persons, which the Armenian side will submit to international agencies and courts.