The National Assembly condemned the obstruction of the return of prisoners by Azerbaijan

On March 3, the RA National Assembly unanimously adopted by 120 votes in favor the draft statement of the National Assembly condemning the policy of Azerbaijan to prevent the repatriation of captive prisoners of war, including women, under the control of Azerbaijan.

The authors of the bill are independent deputies Taguhi Tovmasyan, Anna Grigoryan and Vardan Atabekyan. The bill was discussed in a closed sitting, after which Taguhi Tovmasyan read the statement from the NA tribune.

According to the statement, Azerbaijan, in gross violation of its obligations under international humanitarian law to the entire international community, violates the requirements of interim measures applied by the European Court of Human Rights, conceals the real number of Armenian prisoners of war under its control, inadmissibly delays the humanitarian process of their immediate repatriation, effectively turning them into hostages, deprived of any effective means of judicial protection.

Deputies emphasize that denying the existence of captives or hiding information about the fate or whereabouts of a missing person is considered an international crime.

The statement said that the Armenian side has fully fulfilled its obligations under international humanitarian law, while Azerbaijan has consistently refused to repatriate all prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees held illegally.

Based on the above, the National Assembly calls on all international organizations, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the entire international community, international and regional human rights organizations to strongly condemn the above-mentioned behavior of Azerbaijan.

It should be noted that the Armenian side has irrefutable evidence about  around 200 prisoners in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has confirmed the capture of 70 people. Moreover, claiming that 54 of them, who are the reservists captured in Khtsaberd, are not prisoners of war, but “terrorists-saboteurs”.

It should be reminded that on March 1, the Speaker of the Federal Council Valentina Matvienko discussed with the head of the Azerbaijani legislature Sahiba Gafarova the possibility of returning Armenian women captured during the Artsakh conflict to their homeland, Valentina Matvienko told RIA Novosti about that.

Full text in Armenian