Azernews.Az

BAKU – The Azerbaijan representation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the organization facilitating the handover of POWs, has launched a scrutiny into the reports saying that an Azerbaijani serviceman has fallen into Armenian captivity.

The representation has sent an enquiry to the ICRC office in Armenia about 25-year-old junior sergeant Roman Huseynov’s reportedly being captured by the Armenian side. No formal reply has been received so far, it said.

The reports, circulated by the Armenian media, quoted the country’s Defense Ministry as saying that Huseynov had allegedly surrendered to the Armenian side last Friday. Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry and the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons have not confirmed the reports to date.

Huseynov’s family members told the Baku-based ANS TV channel that the serviceman’s surrender was out of the question. The soldier’s father said that his son did not face any differences with either the commanders or fellow soldiers. Huseynov’s relatives said that he could only have become lost on his way from the location he was serving in to the military unit and accidentally ended up on the Armenian side of the contact line of troops.

The family members last communicated with Huseynov over the phone on August 22. On the same day, they were informed from the military unit that the serviceman had gone missing.

Besides Huseynov, two other Azerbaijani citizens are being held captive and hostage in Armenia.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus republics reared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims. Armenia has been occupying over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory since the early 1990s. Sporadic clashes on the frontline continue.