17:19,

YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS. 4 months after the statement on the ceasefire signed by Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan on 2020 November 9, official Baku is still refusing to implement one of the humanitarian points of the document, concerning the release of the Armenian prisoners of war, a group of French intellectuals said in a statement, Le Point reports.

The French intellectuals have noted that Azerbaijan in this way is grossly violating its commitments. “Such a disrespectful attitude towards the signed document shatters the Armenian people’s hope to return to normal life in the land of their ancestors 100 years after the 1915 Genocide”, they said, calling this as a clear manifestation of hatred.

They reminded that Azerbaijan, whose armed forces have committed military crimes against Armenians during the recent war by killing and torturing both the Armenian soldiers and civilians, has the worst indicators in democracy, human rights and freedoms in the world as confirmed by international human rights organizations such as Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders.

“The people, who have signed this call, ask Minsk Group Co-Chair France, which is engaged in the conflict’s peaceful settlement negotiations, to use its entire authority for the release of the Armenian POWs. If this group, which has a mandate by the OSCE, has not managed to prevent the war or protect the people who have been killed, at least it should ensure the observance of this humanitarian point of the ceasefire regime”, the statement, which has been signed by nearly 100 French intellectuals, said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan