The Armenian Defense Ministry issued a statement on the death of the Armenian captive Manvel Saribekyan.  NEWS.am posts the full text of the statement.

“Referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry and Military Prosecutor’s Office, the Azerbaijani mass media reported, on October 5 at 3 a.m. Armenian citizen Manvel Mamikonovich Saribekyan, who was captured in Azerbaijan, committed a suicide. According to the media, a strangulation scar was discovered on Manvel Saribekyan’s neck, characteristic to a hanged person, but the forensic medical examination did not reveal signs of violence.

Despite the Armenian side’s comments that Saribekyan was a lost shepherd, who was looking for his missing cattle and crossed the Armenia-Azerbaijani border, Azerbaijan persistently said Saribekyan was a member of an Armenian diversion group. Then the Azerbaijani propaganda machine spread an “interview” with M. Saribekyan through Youtube, in which he says he had been trained for terrorist acts on Azerbaijan’s territory. However, the expert assessment of the video came to a conclusion that the video was filmed under physical and psychological pressure.

The Armenian Defense Ministry has no grounds to believe in the authenticity of the version of the Armenian captive’s death and expressed its concern over it. The Ministry holds the Azerbaijani authorities responsible for the tragic death of Manvel Saribekyan. We call on the international agencies, particularly, the International Committee of the Red Cross to draw attention to the fact  that Azerbaijan once again blatantly violates the international humanitarian norms, particularly, the Convention on treatment of war prisoners, ignores the OSCE Minsk Group efforts  to resolve the Karabakh conflict peacefully on the days when when the OSCE MG co-Chairs are implementing an assessment mission.”