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Transferred prisoners of war

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Prisoners of war were returned to Armenia and Azerbaijan by Armenia's initiative today.

Today at 14:58 local time, the Karabakh side handed prisoner, sergeant of the Azerbaijani army Anvar Hajiyev to the representatives of the Azerbaijani side with the assistance of the Stepanakert and Yerevan Offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the sector near Bash Karvend village on the border between Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

As reported by the news service of the International Red Cross Committee, on the same day the ICRC returned resident of the Tavush region Artur Badalyan (born in 1978) who was held captive in Azerbaijan.

"We are very pleased that Armenia and Azerbaijan were consistent in their commitments to exchange those who were deprived of liberty due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as the heads of both states had announced in Astrakhan in October 2010 and reaffirmed in Sochi in March 2011," said Head of the International Red Cross Committee delegation in Yerevan Lorenzo Karafin. According to him, as a neutral intermediary and according to the ICRC's commitment, they have supported the return of the prisoners upon the request of the Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities.

Before the return, the ICRC delegates had visited the mentioned persons to assess the conditions and the attitude toward them.

Azerbaijan has transferred three Armenian prisoners of war to a third country, as confirmed by Head of the ICRC Communication Program Director Ashot Astabatsyan. "I can't answer your question. I would simply like to say that in those cases, our mandate is limited and only the UN is involved in those issues," said the ICRC representative.

According to Azerbaijani presses, the prisoners of war are Hrant Markosyan, Rafik Tevosyan and Vardan Sargsyan. They have been transferred to a third country by their will.