ARMENIAN SERVICEMAN "DEFECTS" TO AZERBAIJAN ANS TV July 24 2008 Azerbaijan An Armenian serviceman has defected to Azerbaijan to escape "torture" in his army. The serviceman, identified as Paruyur Stepanyan, met representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Baku. "I told the Red Cross representatives that I am renouncing Armenian citizenship," the soldier told ANS. "I said that I do not want to return to Armenia. I asked them to help the Azerbaijani government transfer me to a third country." Rovsan Maharramov, head of the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry's military police, said that Stepanyan is an Armenian citizen and therefore he did not want to serve in Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagornyy Karabakh. Stepanyan also fled to escape beatings and harassment in his army, Maharramov told ANS. Editor's note:...
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