Azerbaijan will consider “returning the bodies of the helicopter pilots when they deem it necessary” said Firudin Sadigov, Head of the Working Group of the Azerbaijani State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons.
According to Sadigov, the Armenian helicopter was shot down after it crossed into Azerbaijani territory. “The bodies have remained there and neither side has been given the opportunity to retrieve them. The Armenians are begging Andrzej Kasprzyk, however he has no authority,” Sadigov stated.
Since the shooting down of the unarmed helicopter of the Karabakh Defense Army on November 12 on Karabakh territory near the Line of Contact, the bodies of the three pilots have not been removed because Azerbaijani armed forces continue to fire in the direction of the crash site.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry Spokesperson Artsrun Hovhanissyan on November 17 said that International Humanitarian Law has clear guidelines regarding the injured and killed. “I would like to remind the leadership of the Azerbaijani army that Article 15 of the Geneva Convention adopted on August 12, 1949, clearly states: ‘At all times, and particularly after an engagement, Parties to the conflict shall, without delay, take all possible measures to search for and collect the wounded and sick, to protect them against pillage and ill-treatment, to ensure their adequate care, and to search for the dead and prevent their being despoiled. Whenever circumstances permit, an armistice or a suspension of fire shall be arranged, or local arrangements made, to permit the removal, exchange and transport of the wounded left on the battlefield.’”
On November 13, the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and the Missing Persons of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic petitioned the International Committee of the Red Cross mission in Nagorno-Karabakh to ensure the retrieval of the bodies of the pilots.
