Your trusted source

The school students of Berdavan border village in Armenia's Tavush region are holding a rally, demanding the return of their fellow villager Karen Ghazaryan, who is being held captive in Azerbaijan.

The demonstrators marched to block the interstate highway at the edge of the village on Saturday morning, Panorama.am reports, citing Aravot.am.

Ghazaryan’s relatives, the teaching staff of Berdavan secondary school and the village prefect Smbat Mughdusyan also jointed the protest campaign, the news agency said. A large group of police officers were also dispatched to the scene.

The interstate roadway remained closed as of midday.

34-year-old Ghazaryan, whom the Azerbaijani authorities are trying to present as a ‘saboteur’, has a history of mental illness, which has prevented him from being conscripted for military service.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry has slammed Baku’s attempts to present a person with serious health problems as a criminal as a ‘gross violation of the international humanitarian law’, stressing all measures are being taken to return the captive to Armenia.