Armenian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the actions of the  Azerbaijani authorities in relation to Armenian prisoners of war

ArmInfo.The Armenian Foreign Ministry issued a statement in connection with the criminal prosecution of Armenian prisoners of war by Azerbaijan. As the MFA's  press service informs, the statement in particular reads. 

''We strongly condemn the official Baku's criminal prosecution  against Lyudvik Mkrtchyan and Alyosha Khosrovyan, who were captured  during the recent aggression of Azerbaijan against Artsakh. Under the  international humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Conventions,  the latters are considered prisoners of war and should have been  immediately released after the end of hostilities. Meanwhile,  Azerbaijan has filed sham criminal cases against them, thus openly  violating both the norms of international humanitarian law and its  obligations under the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020.

Despite numerous calls of the international community, Azerbaijan  continues to use Armenian prisoners of war as political hostages, and  continues the policy of torture and psychological pressure on them.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan has not yet prosecuted those who  have committed atrocities and inhuman treatment towards Armenian  prisoners of war and captured civilians, including killings, despite  the fact that the perpetrators themselves documented their crimes and  made them public.

The official Baku blatantly neglects the decisions of the European  Court of Human Rights on providing information on Armenian servicemen  and civilians held in Azerbaijani captivity. As a result, on March 9,  2021 in accordance with Article 39, paragraph 2 of the Rules of  Court, the European Court of Human Rights decided to notify the  Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of its interim  measures against Azerbaijan.

The Armenian prisoners of war and civilians held hostage in  Azerbaijan, regardless of the circumstances of their captivity, must  immediately be released and repatriated without any preconditions''. 

As ArmInfo previously reported, on May 24, a staged trial of two  Armenian prisoners of war, who were captured on October 20 during  Azerbaijan's large-scale military aggression against Artsakh, began  in Baku.  The Azerbaijani authorities assure that the aforementioned  persons allegedly tortured Azerbaijanis during the first Karabakh war  of 1992-1994. Note that this is not the first trial of this kind. The  Azerbaijani authorities have previously practiced similar illegal  actions against Armenian civilians who happened to be on the  Azerbaijani side.