ICRC representatives visit Armenian prisoner of war Araik Ghazaryan  in Azerbaijan

ArmInfo. Representatives of the Baku office of the International Committee of the Red Cross today visited the Armenian prisoner of war Araik Ghazaryan, who, on August 12, under unclear circumstances, appeared in Azerbaijan.

Thus, in an interview with ArmInfo correspondent, the head of  communication programs of the ICRC delegation in Armenia Zara Amatuni  informed that representatives of the organization, as part of their  international humanitarian mandate, visited Armenian citizen Araik  Ghazaryan, who is in Azerbaijan.  According to her, the purpose of  the visit is to monitor the conditions of Kazaryan's detention, and  help in maintaining communication with relatives.

It should be noted that the press service of the Artsakh Defense Army  distributed a message according to which on August 12, at about  12:00, soldier Araik Aikovich Ghazaryan born in 2000 left the  defensive site of one of the military units of the Defense Army,  deployed in the southeast direction. Later, the Azerbaijani media  reported with reference to the military department of Azerbaijan that  the soldier is on their territory.  Armenian Minister of Defense  David Tonoyan expressed confidence that the serviceman appeared on  the Azerbaijani side, as he got lost on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan disseminated  information that allegedly Armenian soldier left his post due to  hazing. Light scratches and ordinary scars on Ghazaryan's body are  presented as evidence of violence against him. However, the NKR  Ministry of Defense denied this information, urging the public not to  believe the false accusations of the Azerbaijani side aimed at  humiliating the image of the Armenian soldier, and to wait for the  end of the ongoing investigation, the results of which will be  published.  The Armenian Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan also addressed the  incident, saying that he had talked with the head of the Armenian  mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross, where he was  informed that they had not seen the Armenian soldier in Azerbaijan  yet, but steps were being taken in this direction.  In turn, the  Artsakh Foreign Ministry reported that the mission of the Personal  Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office was informed about the  fact that a soldier of the Artsakh Republic Defense Army Araik  Ghazaryan was captured by the Azerbaijani side. According to the  Foreign Ministry, Artsakh authorities are making efforts to  repatriate prisoner of war Araik Ghazaryan.