ARMENIANS SHOULD RELEASE AZERBAIJANIS WITH MENTAL DISEASE: PACE RAPPORTEUR
Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Aug 15 2007
Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend K.Ramazanova / Azerbaijanis with a mental
disease should be released from the captivity, said the Council of
Europe’s Rapporteur for Missing People in South Caucasus countries,
Leo Platvoet, in his interview with Trend.
"Generally spoken, people with a mental disease should not be in
prison but in a special hospital," he said.
Two Azerbaijanis with mental diseases are in Armenian captivity:
Anar Aliyev, who was taken prisoner at the beginning of August and
Ashraf Jafarov, who was taken prisoner at the beginning of July. Both
prisoners are civil citizens.
"If Armenia and Azerbaijan will both participate in the European
structures and NATO, then they should stop taking each other soliders
to prison," Platvoet stressed.
Five people are in captivity in both countries. The Azerbaijani
captive in Armenia is a soldier of the National Army of Azerbaijan,
Samir Mammadov (taken prisoner in December 2006). The Armenian
captives kept in Azerbaijan are Armenian soldiers, Ambartsum Asaturyan
(taken prisoner at the beginning of August) and civil citizen Valerie
Suleymanyan (taken prisoner in May).
The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988
due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these
territories have been under the occupation of Armenian Forces. In 1994,
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time
the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
(Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.