Ombudsman meets with prisoners of war, hostages returned to Azerbaijan

By Trend

The Azerbaijani Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) Sabina Aliyeva met with prisoners of war and hostages returned to Azerbaijan, Trend reports referring to the Ombudsman’s Office.

From the very beginning, the issue of the Azerbaijani military servicemen taken captive by the Armenian Armed Forces was in the spotlight of and several appeals regarding this issue have been sent to relevant international organizations.

Those appeals demanded from international organizations to conduct a relevant investigation of the facts of inhuman treatment of the Azerbaijani captives and hostages, to put an end to unlawful actions against the Azerbaijani captives, and to return the prisoners of war (POWs) and hostages to Azerbaijan in accordance with international law.

There was conducted a close cooperation with the State Committee of Azerbaijan on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons in relation to the issues of POWs and hostages, and the exchange of information was carried out in the frame of the activities.

Moreover, the participation of the families of Azerbaijani POWs was provided during the videoconference, held with the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Azerbaijan at the initiative of the Ombudsman, as a result of which, they had an opportunity to personally appeal to the ICRC representative.

As earlier reported, on December 14, 2020, Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev who had been held hostage since 2014, as well as 12 military servicemen taken captive during the recent 44-day war for liberating Azerbaijani territories from Armenian occupation, were released and returned to Baku.

On December 15, 2020, Aliyeva met with these persons at the facility where they were undergoing medical examination and treatment and inquired about their health state, the situation with ensuring their rights, and the treatment standards, while they were held hostage and captive. In their turn, they thanked the Ombudsman for the constant attention to their situation and the activities carried out during this period.

During the meeting with the facility’s administration, she also learned about the health state, rehabilitation, and other assistance provided to these persons.

Armenia seriously violated the norms of international law, especially the Geneva Conventions in relation to the Azerbaijani hostages, as well as our military servicemen wounded and taken captive.

Following over a month of military action to liberate its territories from Armenian occupation from late Sept. to early Nov. 2020, Azerbaijan has pushed Armenia to sign the surrender document. A joint statement on the matter was made by the Azerbaijani president, Armenia's PM, and the president of Russia.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, the Armenian Armed Forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.