After more than a year in Azerbaijani captivity, Hakob Injighulyan was repatriated to Armenia in the early morning hours of October 1.
Injighulyan accidentally crossed the Karabakh-Azerbaijan border in early August 2013, after getting lost while serving his time in the army. He was held captive in Azerbaijan for a year, before being moved to a third country.
During his captivity, under pressure from Azerbaijani armed forces, he had given several interviews in which he denounced the Armenian army and voiced his wish to never return.
Injighulyan told reporters at Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport that he was subjected to pressures while under Azerbaijani captivity. He also told the press that he wishes to continue the rest of his service in the army.
Born in 1991, before serving in Askeran’s fourth defence battalion, Hakob Injighulyan was a student at the Gevorgyan Theological Seminary, and served at Oshakan’s St. Mesrob Mashtots Church.
The International Committee of the Red Cross was responsible for transferring Injighulyan and later repatriating him back to Armenia.
Read this story in Armenian.
