Armenia/Azerbaijan: ICRC facilitates handover of Azerbaijani and Armenian nationals

28 June 2019 16:10 (UTC+04:00)

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An Azerbaijani and an Armenian citizen were repatriated today in an operation carried out with support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The handover took place on the road between the Armenian town of Ijevan and the Azerbaijani town of Gazakh at the international border. The Azerbaijani citizen crossed the international border into Armenia on 16 March 2019, and the Armenian crossed the international border into Azerbaijan on 20 June 2017.

Acting as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC facilitated the repatriation in conjunction with the Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities. The ICRC visited the persons throughout the detention in Armenia and Azerbaijan respectively as well as before they were sent back to their countries to assess their treatment and the conditions in which they were being held.

Based on its mandate under the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC has been carrying out humanitarian work in the region related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict since 1992.