Member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Supreme Body David Harutyunyan, a representative of the election campaign headquarters of the I’m Honored bloc, on Wednesday blamed the current Armenian authorities for “totally ignoring” the issue of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) held in Azerbaijan.

"The current authorities are not concerned and have never been concerned about the issue of prisoners at all,” he said.

Harutyunyan called attention to the fact that the November 9 tripartite statement on the Karabakh ceasefire included specific timeframes for the settlement of all issues, except the issue of POWs.

"When it comes to handing over the territories [to Azerbaijan], the incumbent authorities undertook clear commitments and set deadlines, whereas no deadline has been set for the return of the POWs,” Harutyunyan said.

He underlined that the statement made in January, as well as the leaked document on border delimitation and demarcation also made no mention of Armenian POWs.

"In other words, the current authorities have totally ignored the issue of POWs. I guess they [the authorities] probably insist now that a great deal of work is being done to bring back the POWs, simply it is visible to no one – neither the Armenian people, nor Azerbaijan or Russia. I guess such secret work is probably being done only on mind.

“The reality is, the POWs have been totally ignored," Harutyunyan said.