15 January 2025, 21:40
Karabakh NGOs demand to release Armenian POWs kept in Azerbaijan
Karabakh nongovernmental organization (NGOs) and the "Dashnaktsutyun" Party have appealed to Armenian authorities and the international community with a demand to protect the rights of the Armenian prisoners of war kept in Azerbaijan and take measures for the release of them.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 10, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) obliged Azerbaijan to provide detailed information about the Armenian POWs kept in Baku jails.
According to official data, there are 23 POWs of Armenian nationality in Azerbaijan. Seven of them from Nagorno-Karabakh have already been convicted; the remaining 16 are awaiting trial. Former Karabakh leaders have been accused of particularly grave crimes.
"On January 17, on the initiative of a group of Karabakh NGOs, a rally will be launched at the UN office in Armenia demanding to liberate the Armenian POWs, followed by a march to the building of the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)," a source from the Union of Artsakh organization ("Artsakh" is the self-name of Nagorno-Karabakh, – note of the "Caucasian Knot").
The organizers of the action are the Karabakh NGOs "Artsakh Union" and Equal Opportunities. The action will be timed to the start of the trial of 16 POWs in Azerbaijan.
On the eve of the trial of Armenian POWs, they launched an information website www.freearmenianhostages.net in order to raise awareness about Armenian POWs held in Azerbaijan, including fabricated trials, the source from the "Dashnaktsutyun" Party office has explained.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 9, 2025 at 01:23 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
