On 30 July, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Armen Grigoryan received Thierry Ribo, Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Delegation to Armenia,.
During the meeting, Armen Grigoryan stressed the need for immediate repatriation of Armenian prisoners of war illegally detained in Azerbaijan, and considered inadmissible the prosecution of fake criminal cases against them by the Azerbaijani authorities.
In particular, Armen Grigoryan mentioned that according to the third Geneva Convention, the captieves have the status of prisoners of war, so they must be under the protection of international humanitarian law. He added that this policy of Azerbaijan contradicts point 8 of the trilateral statement of 9 November, 2020, according to which the exchange of prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees was to take place.
It was stressed that Azerbaijan denies the fact that a large number of prisoners of war documented under numerous sources are under its control, refuses to provide information about them, including hiding their places of detention. Such behavior provides serious grounds for suspicion of serious crimes committed by Azerbaijan against the captives, including enforced disappearances.
Touching upon the issue of providing humanitarian aid to the affected population, Armen Grigoryan stressed the need to expand the presence of international humanitarian organizations in Artsakh.
During the meeting, Armen Grigoryan drew attention to the humanitarian situation created by Azerbaijan’s offensive attacks against the sovereign territory of Armenia, expressing concern that the continued presence of the Azerbaijani armed forces in the territory of Armenia disrupts the normal life of the population living in border areas and leads to violations of their rights.
The head of the ICRC delegation, in his turn, informed about the steps taken by the organization to ensure communication between the prisoners and their families, as well as presented in detail the work done by the ICRC in the border areas.
