Azerbaijani MoD: in Armenia, our soldier-prisoner was pressed upon

The Armenian party fails to treat the captured Azerbaijani soldier according to international conventions; he is tortured with the aim to withdraw negative information about the Azerbaijani Army. This was stated by Eldar Sabiroglu, head of the press service of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Azerbaijan. The Armenian party has refuted this information.

"Our soldier feels very bad in Armenian captivity. He is exposed to torture and pressure to force him to speak negatively about the Azerbaijani Army. We saw him speaking on TV, and it was easy to see that he was frightened," the head of the press service said on May 1 at a press conference.

In this case a soldier of the Azerbaijani Army Rafik Rakhman oglu Gasanov was meant, who in December 2008 surrendered to the Armenian party under obscure circumstances and expressed his intention to receive Armenian citizenship.

"Despite this fact, the Azerbaijani party treats the prisoners of war in full conformity with the international law and humanity. Thus, in due time, out of three Armenians-army prisoners two were sick, and the Azerbaijani party helped to treat them," said Mr Sabiroglu.

According to his story, as of today one Azerbaijani soldier is in Armenian captivity, and three Armenians - in Azerbaijani one. At the same time, as the "News of Azerbaijan" report, one more Armenian prisoner was deported, under his request, by the Azerbaijani party to a third country.

In his turn, Armen Kaprielyan, head of the Working Group of the State Commission of Armenia on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, has stated that the information disseminated by the Azerbaijani party is a lie.

"It's very interesting to know whence the press service head of the Azerbaijani MoD could get information about torturing Gasanov. The only thing he could know for certain is the information presented in reports of officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who regularly visit Gasanov, but the ICRC has always expressed satisfaction with our observance of all the norms and human rights, and with his state of health," Mr Kaprielyan has emphasized.