Azernews.Az

By Vafa Ismayilova

Azerbaijan has got back serviceman Jamil Babayev, who was detained by Armenians on August 26 on the Azerbaijani territory temporarily controlled by Russian peacekeepers.

The report was circulated by local news sources, quoting Azerbaijan's State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages, and Missing Persons.

Babayev was returned to Baku through the Russian peacekeepers' mediation. In exchange for him, two Armenian prisoners were handed over to Yerevan.

On August 26, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry reported that Babayev voluntarily left the psychiatric department of the Ganja hospital and entered the territory, where the Russian peacekeepers are temporarily stationed.

On June 12, Azerbaijan handed over 15 Armenian prisoners in exchange for a map detailing the location of 97,000 mines in formerly-occupied Agdam.

On July 3, Armenia submitted to Azerbaijan maps of about 92,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines planted during the occupation in Fuzuli and Zangilan regions in exchange for 15 ex-convicts of Armenian origin.

The Karabakh peace deal signed by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders in November 2020, stipulates the exchange of prisoners and bodies of soldiers following the 44-day war.

The first exchange took place on December 14 based on the "all for all" principle to mutually return prisoners of war and hostages agreed with Armenia as a result of negotiations with the participation of international organizations and Russian peacekeeping forces.

A Moscow-brokered ceasefire deal that Baku and Yerevan signed on November 10 brought an end to 44 days of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.

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