Armenian Ombudsman Armen Harutunyan has sent official letters to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg and International Committee of the Red Cross on death of Armenian captive Manvel Saribekyan in Azerbaijan.

 “The letter mentions a number of gross violations of international humanitarian law. Manvel Saribekyan was a civilian who was presented as a captive “saboteur”, as a civilian cannot be a captive from the viewpoint of international humanitarian law. Interview released with the captive is also violation of law,” Harutunyan told the reporters today.

The Ombudsman noted that the representatives of the Red Cross failed to visit captive Armenian during 25 days. “Therefore, statement on Saribekyan’s suicide arouses suspicions,” he added.

Harutunyan stressed that his Azerbaijani counterpart categorically refused to cooperate with the Armenian side, whereas Armenian Ombudsman cannot work with Defense Ministry and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. Therefore, Armenia appealed to the international agencies.

As NEWS.am reported previously, referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, the Azerbaijani mass media reported Manvel Saribekyan, an alleged member of the Armenian “diversion” group committed a suicide on October 5. A strangulation scar was discovered on Saribekyan’s neck, characteristic to a hanged person.

“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 diversion group. 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,” the Armenian Defense Ministry said in a statement.