Azer News, Azerbaijan
July 8 2004

UNHCR to consider appeals of Armenian detainees

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will consider the issue
of granting refugee status to two Armenian nationals, who came to
Baku on April 7 and are being kept at the Ministry of National
Security, and their extradition to a third country.

Ali Hasanov, Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the State
Committee on Refugees (SCR), told a news conference on Saturday that
the two Armenians recently appealed to the SCR to be granted refugee
status and the Constitutional Court, ministries of Foreign and
Internal Affairs, Justice and National Security are tackling the
issue.

Hasanov said that on the government’s instructions the Armenian
nationals’ legal status had been determined and a relevant document
submitted to the Foreign Ministry, which, in turn, will forward it to
the UNHCR for further consideration.