There are no timeframes for the return of prisoners, we are dealing with this matter every day. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Alen Simonyan, told this to reporters on Friday, regarding the Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan.
“Didn’t they [i.e. Azerbaijan] return [Armenian] prisoners? This is a process. We also had Azerbaijani prisoners here after the victory in the first [Nagorno-Karabakh] war [in the early 1990s], we have an Azerbaijani prisoner of war now as well, whereas many, including the [Armenian] opposition, are making noise and making aggressive statements,” Simonyan added.
According to him, Azerbaijan accuses Armenian prisoners of crimes, and it also has a task of explaining some issues to its own society, which is a consequence of the negative rhetoric directed at Armenia, so there is such an attitude in their society, which complicates the process.
As per Simonyan, the Azerbaijani soldier who recently crossed the Armenian border had gotten lost in Shaki village.
“Azerbaijan president’s aide [Hikmet] Hajiyev assured me that he is a criminal in Azerbaijan, too. The [Shaki village] house was empty, he entered there, ate, slept, had some health problems. But ‘infiltration’ means resistance, which you fight against,” Simonyan said.
“There have been soldiers who went astray on our side also. He is an ordinary criminal who will be convicted under the laws of Armenia. He cannot be extradited to Azerbaijan under the conditions of pressure on Armenia. Maybe there will be cooperation, maybe our soldier... or something will happen,” stated the secretary of the Security Council of Armenia.