Today, I appealed to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe regarding the immediate return of all prisoners of war and civilians illegally illegally held captive in Azerbaijan.

Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan reports.

“The special report presented is in connection with the fact that on March 9, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights issued a public notice to the Committee of Ministers stating that the Government of Azerbaijan does not meet the deadlines set by the Court on captives, and that it provided the court only general and limited information.

The report of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia states that the behavior of the Azerbaijani authorities grossly violates international requirements by presenting the prisoners as “terrorists” or “saboteurs”.

All servicemen of the Armenian side and civilians have been captured by the Azerbaijani armed forces in the current, ongoing armed conflict. Therefore, all of them are prisoners of war (captives), they must be released immediately, and they must all be returned to the homeland without any political or other preconditions.

The Azerbaijani authorities are artificially delaying and politicizing the process, grossly violating the rights of the prisoners (captives) and their families, causing them suffering, and producing tension in society.

It is absolutely reprehensible that the Azerbaijani authorities do not publish the real number of captives of the Armenian side illegally detained in their country. They are causing double suffering to the families of the missing, as the situation becomes more uncertain for them; and, this is taking place all the while against a background with the fact that the Azerbaijani authorities are consistently obstructing the search, discovery and recovery of the bodies.

The absolute urgency of these issues should also be considered in the context of the state-level policy of anti-Armenian hatred and hostility in Azerbaijan.

The application to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe provides a detailed analysis of international human rights requirements, sets out concrete examples of human rights violations, and raises the issue of support for the immediate return of prisoners of war and civilians.

Along with all this, I specially state that the Republic of Armenia (RA) state bodies and officials are obligated to engage in proper communication with the families of captives and missing persons, and to provide them with comprehensive information, to act in a coordinated way, as well as to be attentive to their own words to avoid any tension whatsoever.”