Azerbaijani captive soldier spoke to camera under pressure

Seyran Shahsuvaryan, Press Secretary of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, refutes information released by the State Commission on War Prisoners, Hostages and Missing People of Azerbaijan about pressure on Rafig Hasanov, Azerbaijani soldier under Armenian captivity, Novosti-Armenian informs.

Armenian Defense Minister claims that Rafig Hasanov, 19, soldier of the Azerbaijani Army, passed into Armenian side on his wish on October 8. In his statement made on December 18 and broadcast by Armenian TVs, Hasanov said he does not want to return to Azerbaijan and wants to get Armenian citizenship.

“Hasanov himself wanted to speak to camera and representatives of the International Committee of Red Cross were also aware of that,” said Shahsuvaryan. According to him, Armenian side has no intention to keep Hasanov in Armenia.

It is a result of tortures and violence committed against him in Armenia. There is no doubt. I do not consider his last statement accidentally from this view”, Press Officer of the Defense Ministry Colonel-Lieutenant Eldar Sabiroglu told APA, expressing his reaction to the reports spread about Hasanov’s refusal to return to Azerbaijan. Sabiroglu said using such crafty and humiliating methods Armenia tried to create negative opinion about the Azerbaijani Army in the international arena and used the captured soldier for this goal. “Such attitude is contradictory to the human rights and freedoms and to the conventions on war prisoners. However the Armenians continue inhumanity against the captured soldier”.

Colonel Eldar Sabiroghlu, head of the Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, told ANS PRESS that the information made by the Armenian Defense Ministry on Hasanov creates several questions.

“The footage showed obvious pressure on Azerbaijani captive soldier. It is a result of tortures and violence committed against him in Armenia. This is not the first time that Armenia uses torture methods. There is no doubt. They say as if Hasanov made this speech upon his own will. But his hesitation, fear during the speech was a bitter scene to watch. It cannot be so. It can not be that a captive soldier, who expressed his desire to return home, to his family, a couple of days ago, now has changed his decision without any pressure. Rafig made the speech under pressure and big torture,” said Sabiroghlu.

The State Committee of Azerbaijan on War Prisoners, Hostages and Missing People yesterday told APA that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported last week that Rafig Hasanov wanted to return home. The State Committee expressed its readiness to get back the captive in a short time.

Press Service of the ICRC representation in Azerbaijan says the ICRC officials met with Hasanov on December 12 for the last time. All details related to the meeting are kept in confidentiality.

Hasanov expressed his wish to return back to Azerbaijan in his last letter written to his parents.
“I thought much and decided to return back to my motherland and my mother. Wait a little. We will meet soon”, the letter says. Representative of International Committee of the Red Cross wrote on behalf of the captive, because Hasanov cannot write or read.

“Do not worry about my fortune and I was treated well. I declare that I will not return back to Azerbaijan,” he said.

Soldier of Azerbaijani Defence Ministry’s military unit, Rafig Rahman Hasanov, 19, was captured by Armenian soldiers in contact line near Gazakh Region on October 8, 2008.

Ayten Hemidova /ANS PRESS/