Armenian Ombudsperson accuses Azerbaijan of hiding POWs number

Azerbaijani authorities are deliberately protracting the release of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs), and wouldn't disclose the real number thereof, Arman Tatoyan, the Armenian Ombudsperson, has stated. The Armenian delegation managed to achieve the inclusion of the POWs' issue into the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) agenda, Armenian MPs have informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 11, protesters in Yerevan demanded from the authorities to urgently obtain approval by the Red Cross and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) of the lists of Armenian POWs kept in Azerbaijani captivity.

Arman Tatoyan, the Armenian Ombudsperson, has sent official letters to the head of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe), the OSCE Minsk Group, the Human Rights Commissioners of the Council of Europe and the United Nations, as well as to other international structures, about the return of Armenian POWs, he said in his Facebook.

By their policies, Azerbaijani authorities violate POWs' rights, cause sufferings to their families and those of missing persons and trigger tensions in the Armenian society, the Ombudsperson has noted, as the "News.Am" reports.

The issue of Azerbaijan's holding Armenian POWs has been put on the PACE's agenda, Edmon Marukyan, the head of the oppositional parliamentary faction "Enlightened Armenia", wrote on the Facebook.