Members of the European Parliament have urged Azerbaijan to release the Armenian captives.

Chair of the Delegation for relations with the South Caucasus, MEP Marina Kaljurand, the European Parliament’s Standing Rapporteur on Armenia, MEP Andrey Kovatchev and the European Parliament’s Standing Rapporteur on Azerbaijan, MEP Željana Zovko have issued s statement on the reported mistreatment of Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan.

“We are gravely concerned by numerous allegations of abuse of Armenian captives by Azerbaijan, as documented in particular in a recent Human Rights Watch report. We urge the Azerbaijani authorities to investigate all such allegations and to bring those responsible to justice,” the MEPs said.

They stressed that full respect of international humanitarian law and the prohibition of torture and other degrading or inhuman treatment must be ensured.

“We also deplore the fact that the Azerbaijani government has failed to comply with the interim measures of the European Court of Human Rights which ordered Azerbaijan to provide information on the conditions of detention of the detainees, their state of health, as well as the measures taken to return them,” the lawmakers stated.

Once again they called on Azerbaijan to release without delay all remaining Armenian detainees, in line with the provisions of the ceasefire agreement of 9 November 2020.