Kidnapping a shepherd and torturing him into speaking before a video camera is a manifestation of the bitterest cynicism typical of terrorists, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stated in Parliament, commenting on the death of the Armenian prisoner Manvel Saribekyan in Azerbaijan.

“Murdering prisoners, killing a sleeping people with an axe, destroying cultural monuments – all this is typical of Azerbaijan, which dares raise humanitarian issues at various international agencies. But, I stress, Azerbaijan will get anything by using such medieval methods,” Minister Nalbandian said.

 On October 5, at 3:00 a.m. Manvel Saribekyan, an alleged member of Armenian commando group who was captured in Azerbaijan, committed a suicide, Trend News reports referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry and Military Prosecutor’s Office.

According to 1 news.az, Saribekyan hanged himself improvising a rope from his shirt and sheets. A strangulation scar was discovered on Manvel Saribekyan’s neck, characteristic to a hanged person.

As reported previously, the Armenian Defense Ministry stated the information, publicized by a number of Azeri mass media and a Youtube “interview” with M. Saribekyan, alleged member of Armenian commando group, is untrue.

“M. Saribekyan completed his compulsory army service in May, 2010 and does not have any links with the special services. Presenting the lost shepherd, who was looking for his missing cattle, as a member of “diversion” group is another plain step by Azerbaijani propaganda machine. Expert assessment of the video allows to conclude that the video was filmed under physical and psychological pressure and with the use of special methods,” the Armenian Defense Ministry said in a statement.