Health condition of Armenian POWs returned from Azerbaijan should be fully assessed: they may have been tortured - CFTJ Center

YEREVAN, December 21. /ARKA/. The Center for Truth and Justice (CFTJ) called today for conducting a full medical examination of Armenian prisoners, who were repatriated form Azerbaijani captivity earlier this month.

Under an agreement announced on December 7, Azerbaijan freed December 13 thirty-two Armenian soldiers and civilians in exchange for Armenia's release of two Azerbaijani servicemen and Yerevan’s support for Baku's bid to host the COP29 climate summit next year.

Arshak Gasparyan, CFTJ regional director, told a press conference in Yerevan today that a detailed assessment of the captives' physical and psychological health is necessary as they could have been subjected to torture in Azerbaijan.

"It is necessary to compare the state of their health before they were drafted into military service and now. This is extremely important. If, for example, a person's nose is broken, but nothing was said about it in any medical document before the war (September 27, 2020 ), it should be recorded as a case of torture in an Azerbaijani prison," he said.

Gasparyan noted the importance of conducting a medical examination in accordance with all points of the Istanbul Convention.

"It is extremely important to assess their psychological state as well, which is somewhat overlooked," he said, emphasizing that this toolkit should be introduced in all structures where the examination of returned prisoners is conducted.

"The consequences of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will manifest themselves in 1-3 years and more, so it is necessary to keep people's rehabilitation under control. This is an important process," Gasparyan emphasized.

Armenian Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan said earlier that the returned POWs underwent preliminary medical examination and did not need hospitalization. When asked whether there might be a need for a second examination, she answered in the negative. -0-