Azerbaijan has confirmed that it is holding 17 Armenian prisoners of war who were taken captive as a result of the September 13th aggression against Armenia, According to “Armenpress” Deputy head of the Office of Armenia’s Representative on International Legal Affairs, Diana Karazyan told reporters, adding that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) urged Azerbaijan to provide details about the captives, but it, as always, has provided general information.
“At the moment the activities of the Office are directed to applying an urgent measure concerning the POWs. However, Azerbaijan is not always presenting the information required by ECHR. Azerbaijan has confirmed that it holds 17 POWs and provided very general information about them”, she said.
She said that the ECHR urged Azerbaijan to provide details about the captives, particular about their treatment and other issues, but as always, Azerbaijan provided general information. Diana Karazyan said that this behavior of Azerbaijan is not something new.
She also stated that there are still around 30 captives, including civilian captives, held in Azerbaijan, who were taken captive as a result of the 2020 war.
Commenting on the videos being spread by the Azerbaijani side, Communication and Prevention Program Manager at the Delegation of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to Armenia, Zara Amatuni said that ICRC, being as a neutral humanitarian organization, is not authorized to make a statement at a public platform about the incidents and videos, but added that these issues are under their constant spotlight.
“We visit the persons who were taken captive as a result of the 44-Day War and the military operations of 2022 once a month and are trying to keep that frequency. During the visits we hand over videos, letters from the relatives to the captives, provide an opportunity for a phone call and vice versa”, she said.
