Azerbaijan Returned Manvel Saribekyan’s Body to Armenia

At 12 pm today, Azerbaijan returned Manvel Saribekyan’s body to Armenia. The transfer was made on the northeastern segment of the Armenia-Azerbaijan line of contact, in the section of the Idjevan-Ghazakh road, said RA Ministry of Defense press spokesperson Davit Karapetyan to Epress.am.

Karapetyan also confirmed news of Armenia returning a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan to his home country. Armenia returned Azerbaijani citizen Eldar Taghiyev, who about 10 months ago illegally crossed the border into Armenia. 

“Armenia’s Ministry of Defense is fulfilling the agreements made by the RA president on Oct. 27 in Astrakhan, and we expect the same determination from Azerbaijan,” said the defense ministry spokesperson. 

Recall that Saribekyan was taken captive by Azerbaijani forces in September and died under suspicious circumstances while in their custody. Soon after his capture, a video was released online in which Saribekyan said that “Azerbaijani forces had specially prepared him in Azerbaijan to carry out a terrorist act. However, it is clearly apparent in the video that the young man was subject to torture,” according to an earlier released statement by Armenia’s defense ministry.