PanARMENIAN.Net – Former Armenian prisoner of war Erik Khachatryan and his comrades were surrounded by Azerbaijani troops in Hadrut for 43 days before being captured. In an interview with Armlur, Khachatryan said they hid for 43 days on a roof before being discovered by the Azerbaijanis and taken to Baku.

Azerbaijan handed over 15 PoWs to Armenia, including Khachatryan, in exchange for maps of minefields in the Aghdam region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The deal was negotiated with the active facilitation of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker.

Khachatryan said he was generally treated normally, and he and his friend were even allowed to read books. Everyone with whom he spoke in the Azerbaijani prison is already in Armenia, he added. Khachatryan said he was informed of his return to Armenia on the morning of June 12.

"I did not lose hope that we'll return home. What matters is that everything is behind us now," the serviceman said.