AZERI SOLDIER ‘ESCAPES TO ARMENIA’

Radio Liberty
March 12 2008
Czech Rep.

An Azerbaijani soldier crossed into northeastern Armenia and
surrendered to Armenian troops stationed there at the weekend,
claiming to have been ill-treated by his commanders, the Defense
Ministry in Yerevan said on Wednesday.

According to the ministry spokesman, Colonel Seyran Shahsuvarian,
Yaghub Mukhtarov, 19, told Armenian military officials that he decided
to desert from his army unit in western Azerbaijan after being refused
medical assistance and beaten up by its officers.

Shahsuvarian said his body bore "numerous traces of severe beating."

The incident was reported just over a month after Armenia deported
to an unnamed European country an Azerbaijani army conscript who had
reportedly been taken prisoner in similar circumstances in December
2006. According to the Armenian military, Samir Mamedov claimed to
have been systematically mistreated and humiliated by his comrades
and asked not to be repatriated.

Mamedov’s escape came the day after the repatriation of another
Azerbaijani soldier who spent two weeks in Armenian captivity. The
soldier, Vusal Garajayev, was convicted of high treason and sentenced
him to 11 years in prison by a military court in Baku in May 2007.

For its part, Azerbaijan released in late January an Armenian
serviceman taken prisoner by Azerbaijani forces in August 2007 after
deserting from his army unit deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh. Private
Hambartsum Asatrian claimed that he mistakenly strayed into
Azerbaijani-controlled territory north of Karabakh.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress