Azerbaijan is abusing the issue of handing over the body of the Armenian captive Manvel Saribekyan to his relatives, says a statement issued by the RA Ministry of Defense.

The RA Ministry of Defense commented on a statement recently made by Lieutenant-General Eldar Sabiroghlu, Head of the Press Service, Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan. In his statement, Sabiroghlu once again tried to introduce Manvel Saribekyan, who died “in mysterious circumstances” in Azerbaijan, as a commando sent on a special mission to Azerbaijan by the Armenian special services. Sabiroghlu restated that Saribekyan had committed suicide. His main argument was that “secret service men are not killed, but made use of.” Rejecting the Azerbaijani side’s responsibility for the accident, he made illogical comparisons and suppositions that the “secret service man’ Saribekyan’s “suicide” was natural. Sabiroghlu also claimed that the Armenian POWs and civilians in Azerbaijan are treated in conformity with international conventions and human rights principles.

In this context, the RA Ministry of Defense considers it its duty to remind Mr. Sabiroghlu and the Azerbaijani authorities that a number of Azeri “independent” media outlets, for the obvious purpose of propaganda, have lately released information on Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan, who allegedly receive “human treatment.” The last piece of information, Manvel Saribekyan’s “interview”, was released on September 17. It was nothing but the result of physical and psychological pressure on the Armenian young man and one more device by the Azerbaijani propaganda machinery. By such steps, Azerbaijan has repeatedly committed gross violations of well-known international legal norms, particularly, the European convention on human rights and fundamental freedoms, international petition on civil and political rights, Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and convention on treatment of POWs.

The RA Ministry of Defense has repeatedly drawn the attention of international agencies, particularly the OSCE and ICRC, to the Azerbaijani authorities’ actions, stressing that the Azerbaijani authorities’ disrespect for international legal norms is a challenge to effective application of the norms by the relevant international agencies.

The RA Ministry of Defense also considers it its duty to remind Mr. Sabiroghlu that the Republic of Armenia, which remains committed to the Geneva Convention, as well as to other the international legal norms, both in the past and during the year 2010, unilaterally handed over the infiltrees and the bodies of Azerbaijani soldiers that remained in the Armenia side after acts of sabotage.

In particular, 3 April 2010 the bodies of two members of the Azerbaijani commando unit were unilaterally retuned to Azerbaijan. The unit penetrated into the territory of Armenia on the north-eastern section of the contact line of the Armenian-Azerbaijani troops on the night of March 4. On April 7, the Azerbaijani soldier Hasanov Rafiq Rahman oglu, who illegally crossed the border, was returned to the Azerbaijani side. Incidentally, the Azerbaijani authorities sentenced him to 13 years in prison. The fact is that infiltrees returned to the Azerbaijani side, were sentenced to imprisonment before as well.

Observing the international law, the Armenian side unilaterally returns Azerbaijani infiltrees, which is not the case with Azerbaijan. The Armenian side has never put any obstacles to the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross, affording them the opportunity to meet, talk, exchange of letters with the Azeri infiltrees at any time. The infiltrees’ living conditions meet international standards. The staff of the ICRC office in Yerevan has even been invited to organize telephone conversations between the infiltrees and their relatives, but the Azerbaijani side was categorically against it.

In contrast to the goodwill of the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani side regularly creates barriers to the staff of the Baku office of the International Committee of the Red Cross, minimizes the possibility of visiting the Armenian citizens that are captives in the Republic of Azerbaijan. To this day, the prisoners’ relatives have not received letters from them and have had no opportunity to send them letters. Moreover, the Azeri side did not allow the ICRC Baku Office representatives to visit Manvel Saribekyan, likely to hide the marks of beatings and to complete the monstrous plan for murdering him. In fact, a human life was at stake from the very beginning, which is also certainly worth the international agencies’ attention.

Also, there are numerous cases of violence, physical and psychological pressure. In some cases, officers of the Azerbaijani special services introduced themselves as ICRC representatives and urged the Armenians who crossed the border to refuse to return to the Republic of Armenia, promising to send them to a third country.

“Unfortunately, the abuse of the issue of the return of M. Saribekyan’s body to his relatives is going on. Obviously, the Azerbaijani side is afraid that it will be followed by the disclosure of the true causes of his death. We hope that the issue is already under the relevant authorities’ consideration, and the relevant steps – as well as sanctions - will not be too late. We also remind Mr. Sabiroglu that commissions dealing with prisoners, hostages and missing persons are working in Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the Armenian side has never been against the talks on the return of bodies,” says the statement.