Azernews.Az

BAKU – An Azerbaijani soldier was released from Armenian captivity and handed over to Azerbaijan’s authorities on Thursday.

Junior sergeant Anar Hajiyev, 20, was captured by Armenian armed forces in the frontline Fuzuli region in May 2009.

Also, an Armenian civilian who had been interned in Azerbaijan was handed over to his home country. Artur Badalyan, 33, had been held in Azerbaijan since May 2009.

The transfers, facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), took place in a village of Azerbaijan’s Aghdam region, located on the line of contact of the two countries’ troops.

Another Azerbaijani serviceman, junior sergeant Roman Huseynov, who was captured in August 2010, remains in Armenian captivity.

Armenia's defense ministry issued a statement on Thursday claiming that Huseynov is unwilling to return to his country. The ministry’s spokesman, David Karapetian, was quoted by Novosti Armenii news agency as saying that nonetheless, Armenia is ready to repatriate the serviceman if he wishes to go home.

Eight Armenian citizens are currently held in Azerbaijan. These are three military men and a family of five civilians who voluntarily crossed to the Azerbaijani side.

According to Shahin Sayilov, the spokesman for Azerbaijan's State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, the Armenian servicemen have asked to be transferred to a third country.

The Azerbaijani, Armenian leaders agreed to exchange captives and dead bodies during their Russian-brokered meeting held in Astrakhan in late October 2010. During another trilateral meeting held on March 5 in Sochi, Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan issued a joint statement committing to swiftly finalize the exchange of captives.

"We are very pleased that Armenia and Azerbaijan have followed through on their commitment to exchange persons detained in relation to the Nagorny Karabakh conflict, as declared by the presidents of the two countries in Astrakhan in October 2010 and confirmed in Sochi in March 2011," said Lorenzo Caraffi, head of the ICRC delegation in Yerevan.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a brutal war that ended with the signing of a fragile cease-fire in 1994. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since then. Peace talks brokered by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.