YEREVAN (Azatutyuan.am) — Armenian authorities said on Monday, October 26, that they have freed and repatriated an Azerbaijani man who crossed into Armenia a week ago.
The National Security Service (NSS) reported earlier that the man identified by it as Yashar Qasimov entered Armenia’s northern Tavush province on October 19 “as a result of getting lost.” It said Qasimov is a resident of a village in Azerbaijan’s Tovuz district bordering Tavush.
The NSS reported the detention three days after the incident. It said he will be handed over to Baku. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian also made this clear the following day.
“There is no border, line of contact or frontline in the world that a single person cannot cross,” he told journalists amid a continuing opposition uproar over another border crossing incident that turned violent earlier this month.
An Azerbaijani soldier, Nasimi Musayev, was captured in the southeastern Syunik province on October 1 after shooting and seriously wounding a local resident inside her home. The woman, Ani Avetisyan, says that Musayev tried to kill her and two of her children after breaking into their house in the village of Shaki. Pashinian effectively blamed Avetisyan for the shooting, causing outrage among opposition leaders and other critics of the Armenian government who view her as a hero.
The critics also decried the fact that the soldier managed to cross the militarized border and advance deep into Armenian territory unnoticed. According to Azerbaijani authorities, Musayev deserted his military unit deployed on the Armenian border on September 26.
