Nagornyy Karabakh Republic [NKR] official explains reasons for delaying release of Azeri POWs

Artsakh Public TV, Stepanakert
8 Apr 05

Text of report by Nagornyy Karabakh’s Artsakh Public TV on 8 April

The international working group to search for hostages and prisoners
of war recently appealed to the authorities of the Nagornyy Karabakh
Republic [NKR] to release the three Azerbaijani prisoners of war who
were captured after invading the territory of the NKR on 25 February
2005. The Azerbaijani mass media has also started speculating about
this issue.

In this connection, the head of the NKR state commission for prisoners
of war and hostages, Viktor Kocharyan, gave an interview to Artsakh
Public TV today. According to Kocharyan, all this speculation is very
strange because the NKR has informed all the appropriate structures,
especially the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC],
about the prisoners of war.

Viktor Kocharyan said that ICRC officers have visited the Azerbaijani
prisoners more than 10 times. He noted that when Azerbaijan captured
Karabakh soldiers on 25 November and held them for more than two
month, the international working group did not utter a single word
about it. But now this issue is being speculated about. According
to Kocharyan, the Azerbaijani soldiers will definitely be freed, but
their release is being delayed because of the unstable situation on
the front line.

[Video showed the interview]