Azernews.Az

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) facilitated last Wednesday the transfer of two civilians who had been detained in Baku and the occupied Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh region respectively.
The transfer of Azerbaijani citizen, Terter district resident Anar Aliyev and Armenian national Valeri Suleymanian took place in Azerbaijan's northwestern Agdam district.
Prior to the detained civilians' release and transfer, ICRC delegates had visited them on several occasions in order to assess their conditions of detention and treatment. The Committee had also forwarded family news between the internees and their relatives.
Acting as a neutral intermediary and in accordance with its mandate, the ICRC facilitated the transfer of the released civilians with the full cooperation of all sides. The Committee's delegates had visited the civilians before the operation to ensure that they were returning of their own free will.
Aliyev, who is mentally ill, was taken hostage close to Azerbaijan's occupied Aghdara district on August 2, while Suleymanian was detained in the southern part of Garabagh in May.
Commenting on the circumstances of his capture a day after the release, Anar Aliyev said he had lost his way and that Armenian servicemen seized him by means of deception. "They threw a sack on my head and took me away. They took it off only after I ended up in a sealed room. When I was being released, they brought me in the same way," he told reporters.
Aliyev said he had been kept in the same room for five consecutive months but was not tortured. He was deprived of the opportunity to reply independently to a letter received from his parents.
Aliyev added that he was unaware of his anticipated release until a meeting with the ICRC representatives, which took place four to five days before the transfer.
One Azerbaijani prisoner of war is still held in Armenia, while one Armenian national is held in Azerbaijan.