Armenia fails to free Azeri POWs – agency

Trend news agency
8 Apr 05

Baku, 8 April, Trend correspondent E. Huseynov: The planned handover
by the Armenian side of three Azerbaijani servicemen did not take
place, Gulnaz Quliyeva, press secretary of the Baku office of the
International Committee of the Red Cross, has told Trend news agency.

The handover of the three servicemen held by the Armenian side
since 15 February should have taken place on 7 April. To that end,
representatives of the Baku office of the International Committee of
the Red Cross [ICRC], the Azerbaijani state commission for prisoners
of war and missing persons, as well as representatives of the Xankandi
[Stepanakert] office of the ICRC arrived in Barda.

The Baku office of the ICRC has not revealed the reason for the
failure of the handover.

We regret that the handover of Xayal Abdullayev, Hikmat Quliyev and
Ruslan Bakirov did not take place, but we hope that this will happen
soon, Quliyeva pointed out and added that this depends only on the
side that holds the prisoners.

The Baku office of the ICRC declined to comment on the Armenian
media reports that an Armenian serviceman has been in Azerbaijani
captivity since 1 April. The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry and the
state commission for prisoners of war and missing persons have not
confirmed the report about the Armenian prisoner either.