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.