Members of the British Armenian community have been holding silent protests on Wednesdays in front of the House of Commons during Prime Minister’s Q&A to denounce the British Government’s neglect and silence regarding the crisis of Armenian POWs held illegally in Azerbaijan. Since the trilateral Ceasefire Agreement of 9 November 2020 ending the military action over NagornoKarabakh, the Azerbaijani government has refused to comply with Article 8 for the immediate exchange of all prisoners of war. This grossly violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Third Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs). 

Moreover, since 12 May 2021 Azerbaijani armed forces have invaded the sovereign Republic of Armenia and occupied 97sq kilometers within Sunik region. On 16 November 2021 Azerbaijani forces attacked Southern Armenia, killing dozens of Armenian servicemen and capturing at least 32, however the number is expected to be higher. On 17 November the tortured body of Senior Lieutenant Taron Sahakyan was flown from Baku, while 10 further servicemen were returned on 4 December, however, dozens of hostages from November are held unlawfully by Azerbaijan. 

The Azerbaijani government is openly pursuing the ethnic cleansing of indigenous Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, regardless of the presence of Russian peacekeeping troops. More recently, on 3 December, Azerbaijani forces had captured and then killed a 65-year-old civilian, Seyran Sargsyan, who had accidentally veered into occupied Azerbaijani territory while shepherding his cattle in the Martuni region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Throughout the year, the leading British press (including, The Guardian, BBC) and international observers (Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International) have been reporting on systematic abuse, humiliation and barbaric beheadings of dozens of Armenian captives, which are sickening war crimes perpetrated by the orders of the Azerbaijani government led by President Ilham Aliyev. 

•        Still over 200 Armenian POWs and civilian captives are still illegally held by the Azerbaijani authorities, that refuse disclosing the exact number of Armenian hostages, as well as all prisoners killed in detention, which is gross violation of the human rights of the victims’ families;

•        At least 40 bodies of hostages including women - tortured to death - have been returned to the Armenian side throughout the year, meanwhile, the fate of hundreds of others remains unknown;

•        Trials of 58 innocent Armenian hostages were held in Baku’s Court of Grave Crimes, without adequate legal representation, without international monitors, while their appeals were reportedly ignored. Among them are civilians and charity workers sentenced to 6, 10, 15 and 20 years.

 British Armenian                                     

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