YEREVAN, AUGUST 26, ARMENPRESS. All accusations made by Azerbaijan against Armenian military officer Gurgen Alaverdyan are “absurd, and the ongoing process is a low-quality traditional theatrical performance”, Armenian Defense Ministry spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan said.

“The Azerbaijani General Prosecution and the State Security Service issued a statement noting that a criminal case on 5 different articles was launched against lost serviceman Gurgen Alaverdyan. All pressed charges are absurd, and the ongoing process is a low-quality traditional stage performance,” she said.

Stepanyan said the Defense Ministry is in permanent contact with international organizations and is working intensively to resolve the situation.

Armenian military officer Gurgen Alaverdyan went missing in the evening of August 22 at his military outpost. The Armenian military launched a search operation to find the missing serviceman.

Then, it said that the serviceman got lost in severe weather conditions.

Afterwards, Azerbaijan announced that they have taken Alaverdyan into custody. Azerbaijan’s authorities started spreading fake news claiming that Alaverdyan is a commando who was carrying out a raid. The Armenian military strongly denied these accusations, reiterating that the serviceman got lost. 

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan