Ethnic Armenian separatists controlling parts of the region of Nagorno-Karabakh have detained an Azerbaijani soldier, whom Baku says escaped from a psychiatric clinic.
The de facto prosecutor's office in the breakaway region said on August 26 that an Azerbaijani soldier identified as Camil Babayev was detained in an apartment in the city of Martakert.
Babayev was charged with espionage, illegal border crossing, and threatening to kill residents of the apartment he was detained in.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said a probe had been launched against Babayev after he allegedly left a psychiatric clinic in the Azerbaijani city of Ganca without permission.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but the territory came under the control of ethnic Armenians during a 1992-94 war.
Azerbaijani forces regained control of parts of the territory and surrounding districts previously held by the separatists as a result of a 44-day war last autumn that ended with a Russian-brokered cease-fire agreement signed between Yerevan and Baku.