13 January 2021, 21:32
Karabakh accuses Azerbaijan of non-disclosing number of POWs
After the conclusion of the ceasefire, 64 Armenian soldiers have been arrested in Azerbaijan and are still being held captive, states Artak Beglaryan, the chief for the Nagorno-Karabakh President's administration. According to a lawyer representing the interests of the Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), in total, 120 people are still being held captive in Azerbaijan.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 5, Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed on the exchange of POWs in the "all for all" format. The total number of prisoners of war returned to Armenia reached 57, and to Azerbaijan – 14. However, Baku refused to recognize some of the Armenian soldiers as prisoners of war and called them "terrorists" not to be extradited.
According to the Azerbaijan's State Commission for Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons, by January 5, five Karabakh soldiers and two civilians remained in captivity in Azerbaijan, and two Azerbaijani civilians were held in Karabakh.
"Azerbaijan continues to speculate on the issue of captured citizens and prisoners of war," Artak Beglaryan states.
Azerbaijan does not consider 62 people disarmed near Gadrut in December after the end of the conflict as prisoners of war, political analyst Farkhad Mammadov explains. "They arrived from the Shirak Region of Armenia in late November, after the ceasefire agreement had been signed, and they killed five citizens of Azerbaijan. Therefore, they are considered separately, as saboteurs," said Farkhad Mammadov as quoted by the "Kommersant".
Even if the case of POWs is given the priority consideration, the trial at the ECtHR will take a year or two, advocate Siranush Saakyan notes. According to her, there are women among the prisoners of war.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 13, 2021 at 02:49 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
