Artsakh Ombudsman on Armenian POWs Held in Azerbaijan

Currently, the number of prisoners of war (POWs) and captured civilians in Azerbaijan, according to official Azerbaijani data, stands at 38. This was stated by Gegham Stepanyan, the Ombudsman of Artsakh, during a session in the Artsakh National Assembly.

According to him, the Ombudsmen of Artsakh and Armenia, along with human rights organizations operating in Armenia, have specific facts that allow them to prove the captivity of another 80 individuals, a fact that, unfortunately, has not been confirmed by Azerbaijan in any way until today. Stepanyan emphasized that this gives grounds to have serious doubts about Azerbaijan deliberately hiding the true number of POWs and captured civilians.

Regarding the confirmed 38 POWs and civilians, the Artsakh Ombudsman noted that there are no citizens of Artsakh among them. Of those, 35 are military personnel, and 3 are civilians captured after the November 9 agreement. However, 19 civilians remain missing, some of whom we can prove their captivity with facts.

Stepanyan mentioned that court decisions have been made regarding all 38 individuals in Azerbaijan.