30 March 2009, 23:00
Sailov: Armenian prisoners of war want to get to a third country
The Armenian militaries Grant Markosyan, Arthur Vartevyan and Alik Tevosyan, who are in captivity in Azerbaijan, have sent an appeal asking to transfer them to some third country. This was reported by Shain Sailov, Secretary of the State Commission of Azerbaijan for Prisoners of War, Missing Persons and Hostages.
On February 28, three Armenian soldiers were detained in the Agdam District of Azerbaijan. The detention took place near Ergi locality close to the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian armed forces.
The Secretary said that "work is now underway to consider their appeal," as the "1news.az" reports. Then, the application will go to the UN representative office in Azerbaijan.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that soldiers Grant Markosyan, Arthur Vartevyan and Alik Tevosyan stated that they had voluntarily come over to the Azerbaijani side and explained their decision by the injustice reigning in their military unit. Soldiers spoke about hazing, beatings and extortions of money.
The Ministry of Defence of Nagorno-Karabakh, in its turn, has expressed the opinion that the soldiers were forced to complain on the situation in the Karabakh Army by special agencies.
Meanwhile, according to Armenian military man Paruir Simonyan, who had earlier come over to the Azerbaijani party, many more soldier are ready to come over to the Azerbaijani party with a desire to be then sent to some third country. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Simonyan himself was already forwarded to a third country.
