Armenia’s Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons plans to apply to international instances, including the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), over the death of 31-year-old Armenian citizen Karen Petrosyan in the Azerbaijani captivity, commission member Zaruhi Hakobyan said.

Petrosyan ‘died suddenly’ in Baku, after what Azerbaijan said was a cardiovascular collapse.

A resident of Armenian border village of Chinari (Tavush province), he was captured last week. Being not sober, he presumably lost his way and crossed the border when searching for wood. According to some Armenian media reports, Petrosyan often drank to excess.

Azerbaijan branded Petrosyan, who can hardly read and write, a saboteur.

According to Panorama.am, Hakobyan said that talks over the repatriation of the Armenian captive’s body are under way, but the Azerbaijani side deliberately protracts the process so as to make it impossible to determine the cause of the captive’s death.

She stressed that Karen Petrosyan had no health problems and he died after being tortured.