Investigators request court to arrest Armenian POWs after their return from captivity

Five militaries, handed over to Armenia after the armed clashes at the border with Azerbaijan, were accused of violating the rules of combat duty. Human rights defender Arthur Sakunts says it is unacceptable to open criminal proceedings against Armenian soldiers captured by Azerbaijan.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on November 16, armed clashes took place at the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. According to the official information of the parties to the conflict, seven Azerbaijani militaries were killed and ten others were wounded, while on the Armenian side, six soldiers were killed, other 13 were taken prisoner, and 24 were missing in action. On November 26, Azerbaijan handed over to Armenia two prisoners of war (POWs), including a military and a civilian, and on December 4, ten other soldiers were returned to Armenia.

Out of ten Armenian militaries who returned from captivity in Azerbaijani on December 4, five are charged under a criminal article for violating the rules of combat duty or military service, which entailed grave consequences, and investigators sent a motion to the court for their arrest. The “Caucasian Knot” correspondent learned the above from a press officer of the Investigative Committee of Armenia.

The criminal prosecution of soldiers who returned from captivity angered human rights defender Arthur Sakunts, the head of the Vanadzor Office of the Helsinki Civil Assembly. “This is an inhuman attitude towards prisoners of war who survived severe conditions, including psychological and physical pressure and torture in captivity in Azerbaijan. I associate such an approach with the Stalinist repressive regime, when returning prisoners of war were exiled to Siberia in railway wagons,” Arthur Sakunts told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

The human rights defender believes that a criminal case should be instituted not against the returned prisoners of war, but against their commanders.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 10, 2021 at 01:18 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.