STEPANAKERT—The authorities of the Artsakh Republic have expressed their readiness to return an Azerbaijani citizen taken into custody by authorities in Martakert after crossing the border into Artsakh from Azerbaijan.

 

“Showing goodwill and commitment to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, the authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic are prepared to hand over Muzafarzade Javid Samir-olgi, 15, of the Azerbaijani city of Mir Bashir, to the Azerbaijani side. On September 5, 2014, he crossed the border of the NKR in the Martakert region and was detained by corresponding bodies,” an Artsakh government commission dealing with POW’s and missing persons said in a statement.

The state commission notified the Offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the OSCE in Artsakh of the incident, the statement added.

The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, commented on the detainment of the 15-year-old Azerbaijani citizen.

As Andrzej Kasprzyk told APA, occasionally, civilians living and working close to the border lose their way and find themselves on the other side of it, where they get detained.

The personal representative noted that he supports ICRC actions for their prompt return. As Kasprzyk noted, he stressed the importance of the steps described at his meetings with relevant authorities.

Kasprzyk described detention of those who accidentally cross the border as a humanitarian issue: “This is a humanitarian issue which should not become politicised.”

In mid-August, Armenia’s equivalent state commission on POW’s and missing persons announced plans to apply to international instances, including the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), over the death of 31-year-old Armenian citizen Karen Petrosyan in Azerbaijani captivity, commission member Zaruhi Hakobyan said.

Petrosyan died two days after being detained in Baku. Armenian authorities blamed the death on torture and abuse by Azeri authorities.

The resident of the Armenian border village of Chinari was captured as he presumably lost his way and crossed the border while searching for wood. According to some Armenian media reports, Petrosyan often drank to excess.

Azerbaijan branded Petrosyan, who can hardly read and write, as a saboteur.