I can assume that prisoners of war may return in the coming days in exchange for unblocking communications: Zohrabyan

I assume that prisoners of war may return in the coming days in exchange for unblocking communications, former MP from the Prosperous Armenia Party, Naira Zohrabyan, said in an interview with Factinfo.

According to her, the relatives of the prisoners have recently received information that a plane left for Baku yesterday and a large number of prisoners are expected to return by the end of the week. "I told them that I cannot deny or confirm this information, as I do not have such information, but correlating the facts that after the meeting in Sochi, Pashinyan, Aliyev, and Putin announced that they were satisfied with the meeting, I can assume that prisoners of war may return in the coming days, this is merely a logical conclusion, nothing more," said Zohrabyan, further specifying that probably, the boys who were captured on November 16 will be returned at this stage.

Zohrabyan clarified that currently there are 30 prisoners of war in Syunik who were captured after the November incident, including the 24 boys who were considered missing. Before the Sochi meeting, Azerbaijan returned two prisoners, one from Vanadzor who was injured in the knee, and the other, a civilian with certain health issues who had gone missing in the area. "At this moment we have 30 prisoners of war who were captured on November 16, plus the prisoners from the 44-day war, which are not 40, as Azerbaijan claims. According to our information and correlating a number of facts, their number is much higher. What has happened to our remaining boys, what condition they are in, no one can say," said the interlocutor.

Zohrabyan noted that it is unprecedented that Azerbaijan refuses to clarify the data regarding the prisoners of war. "I was told that in the 40-year history of the European Court and the Committee of Ministers, there has never been a case where the European Court, having huge evidence in hand, is unable to resolve this issue. The Armenian side has also presented undeniable evidence regarding the capture and torture of our boys, all of this has been acknowledged by the court, yet the Azerbaijani side stubbornly refuses to provide any information regarding these boys," she said.

According to Zohrabyan, Azerbaijan still has expectations from Armenia, which is why it does not clarify the data about the prisoners. "Besides, I must say something sad—the fate of these boys is unclear, as we have numerous cases where videos have confirmed that the boys were captured, the moment of their capture has been disseminated by Azerbaijani scoundrels through their Telegram channels, yet months later, parents received their bodies. Government representative Yeghishe Kirakosyan, human rights defender Siranush Sahakyan, and I exchange any information received together. Specifically, it is the Azerbaijanis who send me various videos to show me what they are doing with your prisoners, from which we understand that the soldier who has been considered missing is actually in captivity. But what has happened to their fate, no one can say," said Naira Zohrabyan.

She also noted that the right to life and existence of our prisoners is violated, which is a gross violation of the Geneva Convention regarding prisoners of war and international law. "I am surprised why, at this point, the Armenian delegation at the PACE has not raised the issue of expelling Azerbaijan from the Council of Europe? When Navalny's Pritsoskaya was involved in the Russian prison, various European officials raised the issue of depriving the Russian delegation of their voice and restricting their rights in PACE, do our prisoners of war not matter as much as Navalny's Pritsoskaya that international organizations remain silent and apply no sanctions? If it's understandable why the governmental part does not raise this issue, it is at least unclear why the oppositional part does nothing in international organizations," she said.

Referring to the trilateral agreement reached during the Sochi meeting, the MP noted that there is no point regarding prisoners of war, instead, there is an unclear reference stating that all points of the November 9 document must be fulfilled. "Government representatives say that this means that prisoners must return, moreover, after the meeting in Sochi, various representatives of the government said, 'just wait hours, you'll see how many prisoners of war will return.' It has been several days since November 26, I am very patient and will wait again to understand that when Nikol Pashinyan announced that they also discussed humanitarian issues, and humanitarian issues primarily imply the return of prisoners, when he stated that his expectations from that meeting have been fully justified, what does that mean? If he is more than satisfied with the meeting, it means we should have had returned prisoners of war from Armenia," said Zohrabyan.

To the question of why the Armenian side agreed to sign a new trilateral document regarding demarcation and unblocking communication routes without clarifying the issue of prisoners of war, Naira Zohrabyan said: "All those questions should be directed to Nikol Pashinyan. I have said that if I were the Prime Minister of Armenia, I would make the immediate return of prisoners of war a precondition for signing any document in Sochi. The second condition would be that the document must certainly refer to the further status of Artsakh, the third condition would be that the Azerbaijani troops that have settled in Armenia's sovereign territory and occupied our territory must leave. Only after all this, if I were the Prime Minister, would I enter the negotiating room," concluded Naira Zohrabyan.