08 August 2022, 23:55
Relatives of Armenian POWs demand a meeting with Pashinyan
Residents of Armenia, seeking the return of their relatives from Azerbaijani captivity, gathered in front of the Armenian government building. They demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The chair of the Armenian government did not come out to the audience.
The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that the relatives of the Armenian soldiers who were taken prisoner of war (POW) after the end of the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh repeatedly held actions with the demand to organize the return of the prisoners. In particular, on June 28, the POWs’ relatives held such an action in front of the building of the Russian Consulate in Gyumri. According to the protestors, Russia, being a party to the trilateral declaration of November 9, 2020, containing the point on the return of POWs, is to force Azerbaijan to return the Armenian prisoners of war.
Today, the relatives of captured militaries have held a sit-in protest in front of the Armenian government building, demanding a meeting with Nikol Pashinyan.
According to the protesters, an official of the Prime Minister’s administration came out to them, but even several hours after the start of the protest, their demand was not met, the “NEWS.am” reports.
In December 2020, a month after the cessation of full-scale fighting in Karabakh, 64 soldiers from several Karabakh combat posts, mostly residents of the Shirak Region of Armenia, were taken prisoner. Some of them were returned to their homeland, but others were prosecuted in Azerbaijan for espionage, terrorism, and illegal border crossing. On May 25, 2022, Nikol Pashinyan announced that 39 Armenian citizens remained in captivity in Azerbaijan.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 8, 2022 at 06:20 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot
