Muradov promises to return all Armenian prisoners of war

ArmInfo. All the servicemen of the Azerbaijani side, captured during the conflict in  Nagorno-Karabakh, were returned with the assistance of Russian  peacekeepers; work on the return of the captured Armenian soldiers is  currently ongoing. Deputy Commander of the Southern Military District  Rustam Muradov announced.

"To date, all the servicemen of the Azerbaijani side have been  returned, and the work on the return of Armenian prisoners of war  continues, there is a positive progress, there is understanding. I  believe that this issue should be completely closed. And the Russian  peacekeepers will bring this matter to an end," Muradov said.

He noted that he regards the work on the return of prisoners of war  as a civil duty of a peacekeeper. "As a military man, I understand  who the prisoners of war are, what feelings they experienced while in  captivity.  I remember the first flight when we flew to Baku, and  upon my return I saw the faces of those servicemen when they had  already flown to Yerevan to the Erebuni Airport.. They were tears,  they did not believe that they had returned home, " said the deputy  chief commander, TASS reports.

It should be noted that more than one year after the signing of the  agreement on the cessation of hostilities in the zone of the  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the exact number of Armenian military  personnel and civilians held in Azerbaijani captivity is not known.  According to human rights activists, there are not several hundred of  them. Azerbaijan, despite the undertaken obligations of November 9,  2020, continues to illegally hold prisoners of war and hostages,  using them for political bargaining. Moreover, illegal trials of  Armenian servicemen were held in Bakun, and they were sentenced to  long-term prison on trumped-up charges.