Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
Trend:
Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) once again visited Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, Azerbaijani hostages detained by Armenia in the course of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Head of the Public Relations Department of ICRC Azerbaijan Office Ilaha Huseynova told Trend.
According to her, ICRC representatives met with the hostages in September.
"We keep visiting people detained during the conflict, on a regular basis," said the spokesperson of ICRC Azerbaijan Office."According to its mandate, the ICRC visits detained individuals to monitor treatment and conditions of detention and help to ensure that the detainees are able to maintain contact with their families."
During an operation in July 2014 in Shaplar village of Azerbaijani Kalbajar district occupied by Armenia, the Armenian special forces killed an Azerbaijani Hasan Hasanov, and took hostage two other Azerbaijanis, Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov. A "criminal case" was initiated against them. Afterwards, a "court" sentenced Asgarov to life imprisonment and Guliyev to 22 years in prison.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.