Key Czech parliament committee urges Azerbaijan to return Armenian POWs

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Czech Chamber of Deputies has slammed Azerbaijan's failure to return the Armenian prisoners of war after the completion of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian Embassy to Prague said in a Facebook post.

The Committee on Thursday, February 4 adopted a resolution on the conflict, welcoming the establishment of the ceasefire, but expressed regret over Azerbaijan's non-compliance with the ceasefire clause on returning POWs, urging Baku to return the remaining captives.

At the same time, the Committee called for a political settlement to the conflict within the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship.

Several dozen Armenian POWs returned from Azerbaijan in mid-December, although Armenian officials said many more people were being held in Baku. Dozens of others, both servicemen and civilians, have been captured after the completion of military hostilities. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said in one of his speeches that the newly detained persons are not prisoners of war but “terrorists”. Human rights lawyer Siranush Sahakyan has said, meanwhile, that at least 120 Armenian prisoners of war are being held in Azerbaijan. Sahakyan represents the rights of some of the Karabakh POWs before the European Court of Human Rights. The lawyer said there is enough evidence proving the capture of said persons, which the Armenian side will submit to international agencies and courts.