‘Should we go to Aliyev? We will do that too… During this time, 2 parents have passed away without seeing their children’. Protest in front of the government building

‘We don’t want anything from the government; we just want them to bring our sons back.’ This was stated by one of the participants during the protest rally of the relatives of Shirak captives in front of the government on January 11. News.am reports.

‘It has already been 1 year and 2 months; my brother is still in captivity, he hasn’t returned. True, there have been results; the boys are coming back, but for me, there is no result, because my brother hasn’t come back yet. It has already been 1 year and 2 months; they are prolonging it, saying ‘tomorrow’, ‘next week’, ‘in a month’, and so on. We came here with the same hope that someone would give us an answer, share some news, whether we should wait or not, whether we should have hopes or not. Will that day come when the boys reach home? Our demand is to bring our boys home. We want to meet with everyone who can help with this issue,’ he said, adding that every month there is an opportunity to communicate with their relatives in captivity; they pass one letter and one video message through the Red Cross.

Another protest participant said, ‘I want my son; I don’t want anything else. How long can we be deceived, told “this month, the next month”? We want our boys; nothing else.’ He noted that they met with the Prime Minister 6 months ago, who told them to wait 2 more months, and it would be fine. ‘Should we go to Aliyev? We will do that too. We will go and ask them to give us our child. In the meantime, two parents have died without seeing their children.’

He mentioned that the Prime Minister’s assistant, Nairi Sargsyan, conveyed that he was ready to accept three people, but they did not agree: ‘We have come this far; are we going to meet just three people? The Prime Minister’s assistant told us on the phone yesterday that the Prime Minister does not want to see us. If we are not accepted, we will stay here and continue our sit-in.’

It is noteworthy that the relatives of Shirak’s captives are holding a protest in front of the Government. They demand the return of their sons. They held their last protest here on New Year’s Eve. They held banners in English that read, ‘Azerbaijan must respect international law’, ‘Freedom for Armenian prisoners of war’. During this year, of the 62 captives, only 29 have returned to Armenia.

Recall that after the 44-day war, the community of Khtsaberd in the Hadrut region was under Armenian control. However, on December 12, Azerbaijan launched an attack on Hin Taglar and Khtsaberd communities, capturing 62 Armenian servicemen, who were from the Shirak region.

In connection with the case, a criminal case has been initiated against Lieutenant Colonel Arsen Ghazaryan under parts 7 and 3 of Article 361, part 3 of Article 356, part 3 of Article 376, and part 1 of Article 380 of the RA Criminal Code, under the characteristics of leaving service voluntarily under martial law, failing to comply with orders during martial law, exhibiting negligence towards service during martial law, and voluntarily leaving the battlefield or refusing to act with weapons during the battle.