Azerbaijan Uses Captured Individuals as Political Hostages and Leverage for Other Issues, Says Foreign Ministry

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia has issued a statement regarding Azerbaijan's criminal prosecution of Armenian prisoners of war. Below is the statement released by the Armenian MFA.

“On May 25, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia strongly condemned the fact of criminal prosecution by official Baku against Ludvik Mkrtchyan and Alyosha Khosrovyan, who were captured during Azerbaijan's recent aggression against Artsakh. Continuing to violate the norms of humanitarian law, particularly the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war, which clearly stipulates that prisoners of war should be released and repatriated immediately after hostilities cease, Azerbaijan has also initiated spurious criminal proceedings against another 14 captured Armenian servicemen, which further violates the agreements enshrined in the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020.

The criminal cases initiated against 16 Armenian servicemen, as well as the tortures and psychological pressure exercised on other Armenian prisoners of war and detained civilians, set a dangerous precedent of violation of international law. It is clear that Azerbaijan is using the captured individuals as political hostages and leverage to pursue other objectives.

Official Baku also blatantly disregards the relevant decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) regarding providing information about detained Armenian military personnel and civilians. Despite numerous calls from the international community, Azerbaijan continues to hide the actual number of prisoners, denying the circumstances of the capture of dozens of Armenian servicemen and civilians. Moreover, Azerbaijan denies even the capture of individuals, for whom there is clear evidence of their presence in detention in Azerbaijan, both in the form of videos and testimonies from repatriated prisoners, raising suspicions of a number of serious crimes being committed.

Armenian prisoners of war and civilians being held in Azerbaijan should be released and repatriated promptly and without any preconditions.”