Swedish MPs urge Baku to accelerate return of Armenian POWs

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Sweden-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group has called on Azerbaijan to accelerate the exchange of bodies of the killed, as well as the exchange of prisoners of war and hostages, the Armenian Embassy in Sweden reports

According to a document shared by the Embassy, the Swedish lawmakers have also urged Baku to immediately end criminal proceedings against the Armenian captives and ensure their transfer to Yerevan.

They also called on the EU institution to consistently raise the humanitarian issue in the context of current and future relations with Azerbaijan.

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.