On 11 June, Acting Minister of Defense Vagharshak Harutyunyan received a delegation led by head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Armenia Thierry Ribo. The RA Ministry of Defense informs.

“During the meeting, the parties touched upon the issues of finding out the fate of the missing and captured people as a result of the Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression unleashed along the line of contact against Artsakh in September 2020.

Vagharshak Harutyunyan expressed to the head of the ICRC Yerevan office the concern of the RA Ministry of Defense about the attempts of the Azerbaijani authorities to conceal the real number of prisoners of war, civilians, and to make this issue, which is exclusively humanitarian, a subject of political speculation. It was noted that such a course of action is a gross violation of internationally enshrined rights, in particular international humanitarian law, as well as the commitments made by Azerbaijan within the framework of the provisions of the 9 November, 2020 trilateral joint statement.

Vagharshak Harutyunyan also thanked the head of the ICRC Yerevan office for the efforts of the delegation in protecting the rights of Armenians under the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan, noting that the Geneva Conventions guarantee the protection of the rights of prisoners of war from any kind of humiliating attitude.

“Thierry Ribbon, in turn, assured that the ICRC delegation is taking all necessary steps to clarify the fate of missing persons, as well as information on prisoners of war and civilians,” the statement said.