Thank you for your valuable support and your concern with the fate of the Armenian POWs. More and more families of POWs and missing people contact us thanks to this Petition, so let us make sure that it reaches to everyone concerned by this humanitarian tragedy.
This week we have written again to the world leaders of UN, Council of Europe, OSCE, Human Righsts Commissioners as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross demanding to:
· verify the number of ethnic Armenian POWs and captives including all female captives detained in Azerbaijan;
· ensure the urgent access of international bodies, including the Red Cross, to all Armenian POWs to supply their families with full accounts on their health and detention conditions;
· increase pressure on President Aliyev for the immediate and unconditional release and the repatriation of ALL Armenian POWs and captives.
The overwhelming evidence on the reprehensible maltreatment of Armenian POWs by the Azerbaijani military produced by the independent press and international organisations[1], was further detailed in the latest report by the Armenian Human Rights Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan in January 2021 [2]. Furthermore, Azerbaijani authorities are continually obstructing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) accessing Armenian POWs in captivity and prohibiting comprehensive reports on their health and conditions of their detention to their families.
Further discrediting the Armenian authorities’ right to demand the repatriation of POWs, President Ilham Aliyev declared that the remaining detainees captured after the Ceasefire, did not fall into the category of ‘prisoners of war’. He falsely purported that the remaining Armenian hostages, particularly 62 servicemen from the Shirak province of Armenia, were ‘terrorists’ and ‘saboteurs’[3] captured in December 2020 during an ‘anti-terrorist operation ‘carried out by the Azerbaijani military [4].
The Armenian captives in question have been confirmed as ‘prisoners of war’, as they were servicemen in the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) defence army fulfilling their constitutional duties and were there on legally mandated military service, all of whom were taken hostage and had no chance to escape following the abrupt Ceasefire agreement [5]. Moreover, until now Azerbaijan declines confirming other ethnic Armenian women and civilians missing for months.
Please continue sharing this Petition as often as you can!
Thank you!
British Armenian group
info@britisharmenian.org
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[1] https://emerging-europe.com/news/fears-grow-for-fate-of-armenian-pows-held-by-azerbaijan/
[2]. https://bit.ly/39xIvS7
[3]. https://bit.ly/3fGvUjL
[4]. https://bit.ly/2QZbLuS
[5]. https://bit.ly/3metnyb