Armenia’s Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan received today representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) led by Head of the ICRC Delegation to Armenia Claire Meytraud, reports the news service of the Ministry of Defense.

During the meeting, the defense minister highly appreciated the multifaceted and extensive activities of the Delegation of the ICRC to Armenia.

In this context, Armenia’s defense minister congratulated the newly appointed coordinator of defense operations of the ICRC in Armenia Inske Vandormael on assuming office and wished success. Tonoyan also expressed gratitude to ICRC Armed and Security Forces Delegate to Armenia Christoph Dechar for his extensive work to assess the level of integration of international humanitarian law in the Armed Forces of Armenia.

Issues on establishing the identities of persons declared missing as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the coordination of the activities of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons of the Republic of Armenia and the ICRC were discussed during the meeting.

The parties also touched upon the destiny of citizen of the Republic of Armenia, resident of Berdavan village of Tavush Province Karen Ghazaryan who had crossed the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in 2018 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Azerbaijan following a staged trial in February 2019. Tonoyan and Meytraud attached importance to the coordinated activities of the Offices of the ICRC in Yerevan and Baku for visiting Ghazaryan on a regular basis and guaranteeing proper exercise of his right to write letters to his family.