Armenia Human Rights Defender: Azerbaijan is Entangled in Lie on Captives’ Issue

• 03.31.2021, 14:51
•  Region,  World,  Armenia

The non-return of the captives and the obstruction of the search for the bodies and the missing are part of the Azerbaijani authorities' policy of hatred towards Armenians. The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, told this to reporters Wednesday, News.am reports.

He recalled that the Azerbaijani side does not confirm the actual number of Armenian captives it has, there are probably women among these captives, and Azerbaijan does not confirm this either.

As per the ombudsman, the Azerbaijani authorities’ respective policy is based on hatred. "By refusing to return the captives, Azerbaijan is causing mental pain to their relatives and trying to provoke tension among the [Armenian] society. The Azerbaijani authorities are well aware of this, and despite that, they continue [to do so].

They [the Azerbaijanis] openly abuse all legal procedures. They portray the [Armenian] captives as terrorists, and they are so entangled in a lie that sometimes they say those who are [captured] after November 9 are terrorists, who [are captured] before [November 9] are captives, then they say that all the captives have been returned, then they say those who are [captured] before November 9 are also terrorists. They have acted on this principle even before the [recent Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] war, too; for example, the concept of a 'blacklist' [of persona non grata for visiting Artsakh]. Thus, they have tried to isolate Artsakh from the outside world," said Arman Tatoyan.