Azerbaijan Tries to Establish the Impression Among Armenian POWs that Armenia is Not Interested in Their Return, Says Sahakyan

On December 4, during a discussion on the protection of the rights of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs), human rights defender Siranush Sahakyan commented that the application to detain 5 of the 10 POWs returned to Armenia would undoubtedly have a negative impact.

“On this basis, Azerbaijan is attempting to more intensively and actively instill the impression among Armenian POWs that Armenia is not interested in them, that no efforts are being made to facilitate their return, and that Armenian POWs are more protected in Azerbaijan than in Armenia because they could be deprived of their freedom at home,” Sahakyan stated. “They will also try to persuade them to renounce their repatriation and present alternatives for Armenian POWs to return to a third country,” she added.

Sahakyan noted that this complicates the process of returning POWs and could prolong it. “It turns out that we are creating objective obstacles in the return process. This will also negatively impact national security issues. It is no secret that Azerbaijani special services have always tried to recruit Armenian POWs. This scenario cannot be an exception. Azerbaijan's objective will be more achievable if Armenian servicemen are not under the enhanced supervision of the National Security Service in Armenia but instead in a third country,” the human rights defender emphasized.