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Armenian POWs tortured in Azerbaijan - Armenian ministry

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  • Armenian POWs tortured in Azerbaijan - Armenian ministry

    Interfax, Russia
    March 20 2009


    Armenian POWs tortured in Azerbaijan - Armenian ministry

    YEREVAN March 20


    Azerbaijan uses psychological pressure and physical torture to extort
    from Armenian war prisoners false statements about renouncing Armenian
    citizenship or wanting to go to third countries, the Armenian Defense
    Ministry said on Friday, after Azeri television said three Armenian
    soldiers had defected to Azerbaijan.

    "According to authentic information that has been received, Azeri
    special services put Armenian servicemen under special psychological
    pressure and physical torture and subject them to violence, as a
    result of which they are forced to make false statements about
    renouncing Armenian citizenship or wanting to go to third countries,"
    the ministry said in a statement released in Yerevan.

    "This form of treatment of prisoners of war on the part of Azeri
    official structures and denying them the right to correspond with
    their relatives and parents is a gross violation of international law,
    in particular the third and fourth Geneva conventions. The Armenian
    side always gives Azeri prisoners of war an opportunity to have
    contact with relatives and receive medical assistance," the ministry
    said.

    Earlier, Azeri television channel ANS said three Armenian soldiers had
    voluntarily crossed into Azeri territory and did not wish to return to
    Armenia.

    In explaining their alleged defection in an interview with ANS, Grant
    Markosian, Vartan Sarkisian and Rafik Gevorkian complained about
    conditions of service in Nagorno-Karabakh and neighboring Azeri
    districts occupied by Armenia. They spoke about alleged hazing by
    fellow soldiers, shortages of food, and brutality on the part of
    officers.

    The three soldiers crossed the disengagement line between Armenian and
    Azeri forces in Agdam district in Azerbaijan and were arrested by
    Azeri authorities, the channel said.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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