Azernews.Az

BAKU - The dead body of the Azerbaijani soldier who was killed during the skirmish on the frontline on June 19 is neither in Armenia nor in Azerbaijan’s occupied Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh region, the Armenian leadership has said. Yerevan was responding to a query from the International Committee of the Red Cross ((ICRC), which facilitates the handover of POWs, Eldar Sabiroghlu, the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry spokesman, said in a statement.
Yerevan said earlier that due to the alleged absence of a formal appeal from Azerbaijan, it was not taking any action to repatriate Mubariz Ibrahimov’s body.
Sabiroghlu termed Armenia’s reply to the ICRC as nonsense. "Then, a question arises: what was the purpose of the statements issued the day after the shooting by the Armenian defense and foreign ministries saying that Mubariz Ibrahimov’s corpse remained on the opposing side, together with weapons and ammunition?"
Sabiroghlu’s statement said Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry believes the ICRC will fulfill its mission until a final outcome has been reached. "Otherwise, grounds for a new precedent will be laid in the future, and the responsibility for this rests directly with Armenia."
Ibrahimov single-handedly shot four Armenian soldiers after they launched an offensive on Azerbaijan's positions early on June 19 in Upper Garabagh before he was killed. His dead body has not been returned to this day.
Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war over the mountainous region of Upper Garabagh in the early 1990s, which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about one million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory since then. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks, mediated by the U.S., Russia and France, have been fruitless so far, and sporadic clashes on the frontline continue.*