The relatives of Manvel Saribekyan, who died in captivity in Azerbaijan, have addressed a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. She informed him that, violating the ceasefire, Azerbaijan captures Armenian civilians. Manvel Saribekyan, a resident of the village of Ttujur, was one of them.

Azerbaijan’s claims that Manvel Saribekyan was a commando are false. He was brutally tortured and them hung, says the letter.

Saribekyan’s relatives ask the U.N. Secretary General to step in and demand the return of Manvel’s body from Azerbaijan. They also hope that the U.N. will discuss Azerbaijan’s actions to apply sanctions against it. Saribekyan’s family also claims moral damage.

NEWS.am reminds readers that Manvel Saribekyan, branded as “a commando” by the Azeri defense office and mass media, committed suicide. A constriction mark was reportedly found on his neck.

Saribekyan was detained on the line of contact between the Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces. The Azerbaijani side introduced him as an Armenian commando. Soon afterwards, the ANS TV channels demonstrated a video of Saribekyan “admitting the fact of his preparing acts of sabotage in Azerbaijan.” The video was put on YouTube.

The RA Ministry of Defense issued a statement, saying: “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 commando unit. 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 Saribekyan was filmed under physical and psychological pressure.”

Armenia applied to the U.N., European Union, CE and OSCE and demanded that an Armenian expert participate in the postmortem examination.

The ICRC is negotiating the return of Manvel Saribekyan’s body with Azerbaijan.