By Asbarez | Thursday, 17 March 2011
A prisoner exchange in November, 2010
STEPANAKERT—Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Armed Forces Thursday exchanged prisoners with Azerbaijan’s military Thursday in an effort arranged and monitored by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The exchange, which took place in Aghdam, was part of an agreement reached between President Sarkisian and his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliyev last October. Per the agreement, bodies of civilians or military personnel killed in the zone, as well as all captives must be returned to the respective sides.
Officials in Stepanakert said Artur Badalian, a civilian resident of a village in northeastern Armenia, was swapped for Anvar Hajiev, an Azerbaijani army officer who was taken prisoner by Karabakh forces last year, reported RFE/RL.
Meanwhile, the Armenian Defense Ministry said that an Azeri soldier held captive in Armenia did not want to be repatriated.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry spokesperson Davit Karapetyan said that Roman Huseynov does not want to return to Azerbaijan and has expressed interest in staying in Armenia.
Karapetyan said that if Huseynov wanted to return to Azerbaijan, Armenia would immediately repatriate him.
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