Baku hands over to Yerevan six Armenian detainees
By Vugar Khalilov
Baku has handed over back to Yerevan six Armenian detainees - five servicemen and a civilian, Trend reported on December 29, quoting the Azerbaijani State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People.
The detainees were handed over to Armenia proceeding from the principles of humanism. The handover took place through Hungary's mediation, the report added.
The servicemen were detained by the Azerbaijan army on November 16, 2021, while thwarting an Armenian provocation near liberated Kalbajar region on the state border.
The returned Armenian citizens were servicemen of extra-urgent active military service Sarkis Abrahamyan (26), Arman Khachatryan (30), Vahe Aghajanyan (33), Suren Khachatrian (29) and Aram Avetyan (24).
Earlier on December 29, Baku returned to Yerevan another Armenian citizen Armen Verdyan.
"On December 29, a civilian of Armenian origin was handed over to Armenia, namely, Armen Verdyan, born on April 24, 1971, who had previously lost his way and crossed to the territory under the control of Azerbaijani military personnel. Remaining committed to the principles of humanism, Azerbaijan handed him over to Armenia," the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People was quoted as saying.
Overall, Azerbaijan returned 21 Armenian servicemen to Armenia on November 26, December 4 and December 19, 2021.
It should be noted that Armenia has failed to provide any information about more than 4,000 Azerbaijani citizens who went missing during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war in the early 1990s. At the same time, Armenia does not provide information about the Azerbaijani citizens who were in captivity during the first Karabakh war.
A Moscow-brokered ceasefire deal that Baku and Yerevan signed on November 10, 2020, brought an end to six weeks 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.
The peace agreement stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the deal, the Azerbaijani army had liberated around 300 villages, settlements, city centers, and historic Shusha city.
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