BAKU. March 16
Azerbaijan's State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing People has asked international organizations to facilitate the repatriation of a Qazakh district resident injured and detained by Armenian border guards.
"A resident of the village of Yuxar? Salahli, Elvin Ibrahimov, who is registered with the Qazakh district psychiatric clinic, got lost in the early hours of March 16 and found himself in Armenia's Noyemberyan district where he was shot and injured by Armenian troops," the commission said in a statement.
Relevant international organizations confirmed that an Azeri citizen was injured and detained by Armenian servicemen, it said, noting that his life was not at risk.
Earlier Azerbaijan's State Border Service said that Ibrahimov had crossed into Armenia.
"A number of Armenian media outlets reported the arrest of an Azeri citizen on border crossing charges. In view of these reports, the Service hereby informs that on the night of March 15-16 there was an instance of state border violation by an unknown individual from Azerbaijan. This unknown turned out to be Elvin Arif oglu Ibrahimov, born 1986, from the village of Salahli, Qazakh district. An inquiry found that he had a Group 2 disability and suffered from a mental disorder," the agency said.
"The Azeri citizen was neutralized while trying to cross the Armenian border illegally," the Armenian Defense Ministry's spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannissan said on Saturday.
"On March 16, at around 01:30 a.m., Armenian troops northeast of the national border found, foiled and, after their warning was ignored, neutralized an unknown man who violated the state border of Armenia," Hovhannisyan wrote on Facebook.
"The man, who sustained a gunshot wound in the lower abdomen, received first aid before being transferred to hospital. His life is not in danger," the spokesman said.
According to the papers found on the man, he is Elvin Arif oglu Ibrahimo (born 1986), from Qazakh district in Azerbaijan. Investigators at the Armenian National Security Council have launched a criminal inquiry, Hovhannisyan said.