Baku, Azerbaijan, July 11
Trend:
“Armenia, in a demonstrative manner, showing inhuman behavior by keeping Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev hostage under grave conditions, and taking other infamous actions, seriously undermines the efforts for solution of conflict through negotiations and deliberately provokes escalation of situation, the Spokesperson of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev said July 11.
"This once again shows that Armenia is a country completely remote from civilized norms of behavior,” said the official.
Four years have passed since July 11, 2014, when Azerbaijani civilians Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev were taken hostage by the armed forces of Armenia during their visit to their native lands and graves of their parents in the occupied Kelbajar region of Azerbaijan. Hasan Hasanov who was with them during the hostage-taking incident, was killed.
Based on false and fabricated accusations made by the illegal regime established in the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia, a "trial" was held over them, as a result of which Asgarov was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Guliyev - to 22 years of imprisonment.
The images of Asgarov and Guliyev before and after their forcible capture clearly demonstrate that they were subjected to inhuman treatment, physical and moral torture during their hostage, said Hajiyev.
"As a result of this, Asgarov and Guliyev now suffer from various serious diseases. The Armenian side, deliberately demonstrating through the media its inhuman treatment of them, thereby exerts psychological pressure on members of their families and relatives," said the official.
The Republic of Armenia, in blatant violation of the norms and principles of international law and the UN Charter, by use of force occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions of Azerbaijan.
More than a million Azerbaijanis, among them D. Asgarov, Sh. Guliyev and members of their families, were expelled from their native lands as a result of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Armenia in seized lands.
Since 1993, D. Asgarov and Sh. Guliyev and their families were forced to live as internally displaced persons. The longing for native places, which is lasting more than 20 years, prompted them to make a selfless step - to visit the occupied lands, and from this point of view their desire to see their native homes and the graves of their parents is quite understandable. Thus, their unlawful arrest by Armenia and the refusal to release are causing great sorrow among relatives, and indignation of Azerbaijani public.