ArmInfo. Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan today appealed to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the issue of the immediate return of all prisoners illegally held by Azerbaijan.
According to the press service of the Ombudsman's office, the presented special report is connected with the fact that on March 9, 2021, the ECHR published a public notice to the Committee of Ministers, indicating that the Azerbaijani government did not comply with the deadlines set by the Prisoners of War Court and provides the court with general and limited information.
Tatoyan's report indicates that the behavior of the Azerbaijani authorities (presenting the prisoners as "terrorists" or "saboteurs") is a gross violation of international requirements. "All the servicemen and civilians of the Armenian side were captured by the Azerbaijani armed forces during the current, ongoing armed conflict, therefore they are all prisoners, they must be immediately released, returned to their homeland without any political or other preconditions.
The Azerbaijani authorities are artificially delaying and politicizing this process, grossly violating the rights of prisoners and their families, causing them suffering and causing tension in society. It is absolutely reprehensible that the Azerbaijani authorities do not publish the real number of prisoners of the Armenian side, illegally detained. They inflict double suffering on the families of the missing, since the situation for them is becoming more and more uncertain, and this against the background of the fact that the Azerbaijani authorities are constantly hindering the search and discovery of bodies, "the statement of the Armenian Ombudsman says.
It is also noted that the imperative of these issues should be considered in the context of the policy of hatred and hostility towards Armenia promoted at the state level in Azerbaijan.
The statement sent to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe contains a detailed analysis of international human rights requirements, provides specific examples of human rights violations and raises the need for assistance in the immediate return of prisoners.
At the same time, the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia emphasizes that the state bodies and officials of Armenia are obliged to ensure proper communication with the families of prisoners who have disappeared, to provide them with comprehensive information, to act systematically, as well as to be attentive to them and be attentive to their own words to exclude any tension.