The issue of Armenian prisoners of war held in Baku was addressed in Amnesty International’s annual report. The international human rights organization, citing the Council of Europe report published in September 2021, noted that dozens of prisoners continue to be held in inhumane conditions and are subjected to accelerated, unfair trials.
In its report, Amnesty International criticized the Azerbaijani authorities for continuing to hold dozens of Armenian prisoners in Baku to this day.
The report did not specify how many prisoners are involved, noting only that as of the end of last year, more than 60 Armenian prisoners were being held in Azerbaijan.
As early as September 2021, the Council of Europe had expressed concern in its report regarding the facts of “dozens of Armenian prisoners being held in inhumane conditions and subjected to accelerated, unfair trials.”
Quoting the President of the Council of Europe’s remarks that Yerevan had handed over maps of minefields to Baku in exchange for the return of prisoners, the accuracy of which Azerbaijan disputes, the report asserts that in the territories that came under Azerbaijani control after the war, more than one hundred people have been killed or wounded “due to mines laid by the Armenian side.”
Problems of Displaced Artsakh Residents
The human rights organization noted that after the war, the majority of refugees returned to Stepanakert and other territories of Nagorno-Karabakh remaining under Armenian control, but these people continue to face various educational, health and daily-life problems.
“Around 36,000 Armenians continue to be internally displaced. Of these, 24,000 are long-term, as they left their homes in territories now under Azerbaijan’s control,” the report stated.
