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Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office commented on the question of civilians who have appeared on the other side of the line of contact, urging not to politicise this question. As reported by Azerbaijani information agency APA, A. Kasprzyk noted that from time to time there are cases when civilians living and working near the line of contact unintentionally cross the border and appear on the territory of the other side, where they are detained.

The Personal Representative noted that he supports the establishment of an immediate contact between the International Committee of the Red Cross’ (ICRC) and these persons as well as the ICRC’s efforts to return them. He says he highlighted the importance of these measures also at meetings with relevant bodies.

Kasprzyk added that he considers the detention of Javid Mammadov or others in Karabakh a humanitarian question. “This is a humanitarian issue and it must not be politicised,”he said.

Spokesman for the Baku Office of the ICRC Ilaha Huseinova also told Azerbaijani information agency Trend that the ICRC is conducting negotiations with Azerbaijani and Armenian sides over the case of Javid Mammadov.

She also noted that the representatives of the ICRC visited the Azerbaijani citizen detained earlier in Nagorno Karabakh and passed the information received from him to his family. According to her the ICRC is conducting negotiations with the sides of the conflict, however their content is not publicized.

“The transfer of a detained person depends on the agreements between the sides. If there is an agreement about the wish to return the detainee, if the other side agrees to take him back and if the detainee himself agrees to return, then the ICRC as a neutral mediator takes part in the return operation. Upon the completion of the operation the Committee makes an announcement in this regard,” said Huseynova.

APA also reports that the representatives of the ICRC also visited the Armenian citizen who had crossed the border to the Gazakh region of Azerbaijan a couple of days ago. As Ilaha Huseinova told the agency, the meeting took place on 08 September.

The representatives of the ICRC informed the family members of the detainee and the government of the RA about the meeting. The detainee was given the opportunity to exchange information with his family.

According to the announcement issued by the Ministry of Defense, on 26 August Armenian citizen Sarkis Ananyan (born 1961) crossed the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and was detained on the territory of Gazakh region of Azerbaijan.

According to the announcement of the press service of the NKR Ministry of Defense, on 05 September around 6:10 pm Azerbaijani citizen Mamedov Javid Samiroglu was detained by Karabakh frontier guards as he was attempting to cross the NKR state border in the north-eastern direction (Verin Chaylu). The Stepanakert Office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been notified about the incident. Mamedov Javid Samiroglu was handed over to the respective agencies in NKR, as the press service of NKR Defense Ministry reported.

The Nagorno-Karabakh State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons issued a statement in which it expressed readiness, as a good will and commitment to the Geneva Convention, to hand over 15-year-old Azerbaijani boy Muzafarzade Javid Samiroglu to Azerbaijan. ICRC and OSCE Offices in NKR have been informed about this.