Azerbaijan returns Armenian captive
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijan transferred the Armenian citizen, who was detained on the frontline, to the opposite side.
Armenian citizen Mayelyan Vagif Rubenovich was returned to Armenia on May 6 near the Azerbaijan-Armenia border in Bash Garvand village of Aghdam region, the Azerbaijani State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons said.
Rubenovich was taken prisoner on April 20, 2014 in Abdurrahmanli village, of Fuzuli region.
The process was carried out by the Defense Ministry and Azerbaijani State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Earlier, Azerbaijan delivered Armenian citizen Arsen Khojayan born 1991, who was taken prisoner on March 7, 2014 in Tovuz region of Azerbaijan.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by the U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.