Armenia’s minister of health, Anahit Avanesyan, is currently visiting Vagif Khachatryan, who has been returned from Azerbaijani captivity.

Avanesyan had a short conversation with reporters, and noted that Khachatryan is already in the hospital. “Now we will find out what he needs, his health condition will be assessed. I will talk to [his] relatives. We are all very happy and joyful that our compatriots are here. The health condition of our other compatriots is assessed as satisfactory,” the minister said.

Vagif Khachatryan (born in 1955) was abducted and taken prisoner by Azerbaijan on July 29, 2023 near the illegal Azerbaijani checkpoint at the Lachin corridor, while being evacuated to Armenia by a Red Cross vehicle for emergency medical care. Khachatryan was sentenced in Azerbaijan to 15 years in prison in 2023 on trumped-up charges of “committing genocide” in the 1990s.

Gevorg Sujyan (born in 1989) and Davit Davtyan (born in 1993) were abducted and held captive by Azerbaijan on November 11, 2020, while delivering humanitarian aid on the Berdzor-Shushi road. In 2021, they were sentenced in Azerbaijan to 15 years in prison on trumped-up charges of “espionage.”