RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan states that Azerbaijan is holding 38 people as captives, 3 of whom are civilians. Mirzoyan stated this during the session of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, during the presentation of the report approved by the decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia of February 28, 2022, “On the Report on the Process and Results of the Implementation of the Program of the Government of the Republic of Armenia (2021-2026) for 2021.”
“In Azerbaijan, Armenian prisoners of war and civilians are still being illegally detained. And Armenia continues to raise the issue of the immediate return of Armenian prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons held in Azerbaijan in various international formats. Azerbaijan still holds 38 people — prisoners of war, hostages and persons detained in other statuses. Of the 38, 3 are civilians. It is noteworthy that 2 of the 38 were captured before the incursion that took place on November 16,” said Mirzoyan.
The issue was included in the agenda of the April session of PACE on April 19, 2021, and the decision regarding the application of interim measures by the ECtHR in Azerbaijan also remains in force.
On May 20, 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution with the votes of 607 members calling for the immediate release and return of Armenian prisoners.
Mirzoyan recalled the decisions of the International Court of Justice of the United Nations of December 7, 2021. The Court, through the application of urgent measures, obliged Azerbaijan to prevent the incitement and promotion of racial hatred and discrimination targeting Armenians, and to take necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration directed against Armenian cultural heritage.
The Minister emphasized that the approaches raised by Azerbaijan’s Minister of Culture regarding the need to create a commission that would deal with the “restoration of Albanian cultural monuments” makes the dispatch of a UNESCO mission to Mountainous Karabakh particularly urgent. And the Armenian side is currently conducting negotiations in this direction.
