U.S. embassy in Yerevan urges Azerbaijan to release all Armenian prisoners of war and other captives

YEREVAN, April 5. /ARKA/. The U.S. Embassy in Armenia has called for the release of Armenian prisoners convicted in Azerbaijan. The call was made at a March 29 meeting of the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy with the relatives of Armenian servicemen captured in 2020 and 2021.

Some of them have received long sentences from Azerbaijani courts, while some others’ fates are currently unknown.

The discussion focused on human rights issues, including point eight of the November 2020 trilateral ceasefire statement by Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia on the exchange of prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons, and dead bodies, and the Geneva Convention.

‘We urge the release of all prisoners as well as increased efforts to obtain information about the fate of missing service members, including from the 1990s, noting the pain of families who do not know their loved ones’ whereabouts or fate,’ the Embassy said in a press release posted on its official Facebook page.

On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijani armed forces, backed by Turkey and foreign mercenaries and terrorists, attacked Nagorno-Karabakh along the entire front line using rocket and artillery weapons, heavy armored vehicles, military aircraft and prohibited types of weapons such as cluster bombs and  phosphorus weapons.

 After 44 days of the war, on November 9, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities. According to the document, the town of Shushi, the districts of Agdam, Kelbajar and Lachin were handed over to Azerbaijan, with the exception of a 5-kilometer corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia. 

A Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed along the contact line in Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor. -0