Armenian Prisoners Returned as a Result of Negotiations: Siranush Sahakyan

The President of the International and Comparative Law Center, Siranush Sahakyan, believes that the Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan have been returned to Armenia as a result of negotiations.

“Azerbaijan has presented illegal demands, which have been met by Armenia, and against this backdrop, repatriations have taken place. This is why we believe that the Armenians held in Azerbaijan are not prisoners of war or detainees, but hostages being held to exert pressure on Armenia and to guarantee the fulfillment of certain political demands,” Sahakyan stated during a press conference.

According to her, official data indicates that 23 Armenians are currently being held in Azerbaijan under various statuses. Some of them are military personnel and considered prisoners of war, while there are also civilian captives, as well as former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh who are being prosecuted for their activities, thus should be regarded as political prisoners.

“I believe high-ranking leaders will be repatriated last, at the time when Azerbaijan will have maximally utilized their factor for its internal and foreign policy objectives,” Siranush Sahakyan noted.

According to her, Azerbaijan presents the former leaders of Artsakh as ordinary criminals with a range of accusations.

Sahakyan also mentioned that currently there is no information about the forcibly missing prisoners during the 2023 war, but there are still around 80 court cases from the 44-day war. “Azerbaijan has a rejectionist policy in this matter; it does not want to disclose these cases and ensure families receive the right to accurate information,” said the human rights defender.

She also reported that a total of 210 prisoners have been returned from Azerbaijan to Armenia.