The Return of Prisoners Process Depends Primarily on Azerbaijan, Says Artsakh Ombudsman

The process of returning prisoners depends primarily on Azerbaijan, as they hold the captives under their control, stated Artsakh Republic Ombudsman Artak Beglaryan on his Facebook page. He made several clarifications regarding inquiries about the prisoners:

“1. Undoubtedly, their return must be one of the priorities of state bodies, but it is necessary to distinguish between authorized bodies and supporting bodies, as well as the subjective issues from the objective difficulties. The authorized body in this matter is the government, represented by the relevant commission.

2. As a supporting body, the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Artsakh supports state and international structures to the maximum extent in carrying out their functions. Specifically, we continuously gather information from all possible sources and pass it on to them, provide relevant information to the relatives of the prisoners and their lawyers, and send applications and reports to various international organizations and decision-makers, etc. For example, we have conducted extensive evidence-gathering activities regarding missing civilians and have passed on an exclusive database of this information to all authorized bodies.

Thanks to our efforts, it has been possible to save some prisoners' lives and clarify information about them; significant progress has already been made, but I cannot present more detailed results given the sensitivities of the topic and the importance of confidentiality for the prisoners.

Today, I had a lengthy discussion with the responsible representative of the Red Cross, presenting additional information to them. I have also held separate discussions with international human rights defenders.

3. It is important to consider that there are many sensitive and delicate issues regarding this topic, and unnecessary publicity can sometimes harm the process and the fate of the prisoners. Nevertheless, it is very important that families and the public are as informed as possible about the process and results. In addition, it should not be forgotten that the process primarily depends on Azerbaijan, as they hold the captives.

4. We are also actively cooperating with the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, and today my colleague Arman Tatoyan provided detailed clarifications and emphases; I will post a link in the comments so that I do not repeat the same points,” wrote Artak Beglaryan.