Ombudsman of Armenia: The return of prisoners of war is a mandatory  international requirement, not the "goodwill" of the Azerbaijani authorities

ArmInfo.It is unacceptable for Azerbaijan to distort the facts presented to  international organizations regarding Armenian prisoners of war and  POWs.

This was stated by the Ombudsman of Armenia Arman Tatoyan,  referring to the statements of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun  Bayramov that there are no more Armenian prisoners of war in Baku,  and that the remaining persons cannot be so qualified, since they  ended up under Azerbaijani jurisdiction after November 9 (signing of  a trilateral statement ed. ).  In this regard, Tatoyan considered it  necessary to refer to the aforementioned statements of Bayramov about  prisoners of war in details:

1. Both before and after the 9 November statement, as there is  currently an ongoing armed conflict This conclusion follows directly  from international humanitarian law and means that all servicemen and  civilians of the Armenian side detained in Azerbaijan are prisoners of war,  are under the protection of international law and must be immediately released and returned.

2. The release and return of prisoners of war is a mandatory  international requirement, not the "goodwill" of the Azerbaijani  authorities.  This requirement applies in international law,  regardless of whether it is enshrined in specific documents on  conflict resolution, and must be fulfilled without preconditions.

3. The behavior and statements of the Azerbaijani authorities  indicate at least the following:

a) artificially delay the release and return of prisoners to the  Armenian side;

b) abuse legal procedures and falsify the requirements of  international law, initiating a criminal case against prisoners and using  imprisonment as a punishment (the Special Report of the Human Rights Defender  of Armenia, using specific examples, proves that such a practice grossly violates  international human rights requirements).

c) use the issue for political purposes. We are talking, for example,  about reports in independent media that the authorities of Azerbaijan  use the issue of the return of prisoners for the exchange of  territories in Artsakh, bargaining and other political purposes.

d) manipulate the 8th clause of the tripartite statement of November  9, 2020, regarding the return of prisoners, linking it with others  paragraphs of the statement, clearly taking advantage of the fact  that it does not indicate the date of fulfillment of this obligation.

e) deliberately constantly inflict mental suffering on the families  of prisoners and missing persons, and also play with the feelings of the Armenian and Artsakh society;

f) by their behavior create social tension in Armenia and Artsakh;

g) do not represent the real number of captives of the Armenian side  held in Azerbaijan without any legal basis, which is a gross violation of human rights requirements.

4. Consequently, to call any of the Armenian military personnel and  civilians captured by the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan “terrorists” is a  flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in general.

This approval complies with the requirements of the Third Geneva  Convention of 1949.

5. Statements of the President of Azerbaijan and the Minister of  Foreign Affairs on the prisoners directly to the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020.

In particular, proceeding from the requirement of the 8th point of  this statement, the Republic of Armenia has already transferred to  Azerbaijan two people who committed crimes in Artsakh and killed  civilians. On the same principle, Azerbaijan handed over Armenia to  the Armenians officially convicted in this country.  Moreover, the  return of prisoners took place after the tripartite statement on  November 9.

6. Thus, this statement should apply to all situations both before  and after November 9, as long as there is an objective need to  protect human rights and the humanitarian process due to the  consequences of hostilities.  In principle, it is inadmissible to  condition the issue of prisoners of war only on the date of the  trilateral statement.  We emphasize once again that, regardless of  the date of capture, all servicemen and civilians of the Armenian  side have the status of prisoners of war.

7. In addition to the above, reliable evidence collected by the  Office of the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia  confirms that the number of prisoners is higher than that confirmed  by the Azerbaijani authorities. This also applies to the return of up  to 44 prisoners in the group, including those captured in the  fighting prior to the November 9 tripartite announcement.  The human  rights defender has documented numerous cases in which, despite  evidence supported by video and other evidence, the Azerbaijani authorities  deny the presence of people or delay the approval process.

8. The absolute urgency of the issue of the release of prisoners  should also be considered in the context of the anti-Armenian policy  pursued by the state in Azerbaijan, which has been repeatedly  confirmed by the reports of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia,  based on objective evidence.  This fact is confirmed by a number of  judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

9. Therefore, the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia  once again draws the attention of the international community and  especially international organizations authorized to protect human  rights to the statement of the Azerbaijani authorities, in this case  the Minister of Foreign Affairs.  He stressed the need to ensure full  compliance with international humanitarian and human rights  requirements, as well as the immediate release and return of Armenian prisoners  without any preconditions.