There Are Approximately 300 Armenian Captives in Azerbaijan: Sahakyan

We cannot provide an exact number regarding the Armenian captives held in Azerbaijan. The work is ongoing, and new cases are being uncovered during the investigations. This was stated by Siranuş Sahakyan, the representative of Armenian prisoners' interests at the European Court of Human Rights, in an interview with Shantnews.

“Azerbaijan acknowledges about 80 cases of captives, yet the number of proven indisputable cases approaches 200. This figure does not include information on alleged captives; here we also account for cases where a person is missing, but the circumstances more likely indicate abduction rather than death. If we include those cases as well, we can talk about around 300 captives,” she noted.

When asked if there is a difference between whether the person was captured before or after November 9, Sahakyan responded: “From a legal status perspective, it doesn’t matter, but it does have significance regarding treatment and state responsibility. We differentiate the incidents that occurred up to and including November 9, while on November 10, there were clear instances of civilians being captured, and we are aware of incidents that occurred around mid-December involving military personnel.”