AZERBAIJAN STATE COMMITTEE AND ICRC SPREAD INFORMATION ON REPATRIATION OF ONE AZERBAIJANI SOLDIER AND BODIES OF TWO CIVILIANS

APA
April 7 2010
Azerbaijan

Baku. Kamala Guliyeva – APA. An Azerbaijani soldier detained in
Yerevan, Armenia was today repatriated to the Nakhchivan Autonomous
Republic of Azerbaijan under the auspices of the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The operation took place on the road between the Armenian town of
Eraskhavan and the Azerbaijani town of Sadarak, APA reports.

"Acting as a neutral intermediary and in accordance with our mandate,
we facilitated the serviceman’s repatriation at the request of both
the Armenian and the Azerbaijani authorities," announced Nadya Kebir
Raoloson, head of the ICRC in Armenia. "Before the operation took
place, the detainee had confirmed to ICRC delegates that he was
returning of his own free will."

ICRC delegates had visited the soldier on several occasions prior to
his repatriation to assess his treatment and conditions of detention.

The organization had also made it possible for him and his relatives
in Azerbaijan to exchange family news throughout his detention.

On 3 April, the ICRC also facilitated the repatriation of the bodies
of two Azerbaijan civilians caught along the international border
separating Armenia and Azerbaijan. The bodies were repatriated from
Armenia to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan.

Working under the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC has been operating
in Armenia and Azerbaijan since 1992 in connection with the
Nagorny-Karabakh conflict.