Azerbaijani Elnur Huseynzade, who days ago was released from prison after serving a two-year sentence in the Republic of Artsakh, does not wish to return to Azerbaijan.

Davit Babayan, press secretary of the President of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR), told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am. He noted that Huseynzade expressed a desire to move to a third country.

“That person had announced from the beginning that he doesn’t wish to return to Azerbaijan, [and] therefore he will leave for a third country,” Babayan said. “But we can’t say which country, since the Azerbaijani side could pursue him in the future.”

The Artsakh presidential spokesperson added that the relevant services will do everything possible so that this person is transferred to another country.

“In Artsakh, they don’t hold or torture people just for [their] national affiliation,” Davit Babayan stressed, in particular.

Zara Amatuni, the communications manager of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Yerevan Office in Armenia’s capital city, for her part, told Armenian News-NEWS.am that the ICRC was aware of Huseynzade’s release, and noted that this person continues to be protected under international humanitarian law. 

As reported earlier, Azerbaijani military serviceman Elnur Huseynzade, who was sentenced to two years in prison by the ruling of a court of the Republic of Artsakh, was released on February 2, after serving his sentence at a penitentiary of the Artsakh Police.

Huseynzade was charged with illegally crossing the state border of the Republic of Artsakh, on February 1, 2017. Subsequently, he had entered a trench at the combat position, whereupon he was detained by the Artsakh military servicemen overseeing the state border.