Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan today received newly appointed Ambassador of France to Armenia Anne Louyot and congratulated her on assuming the important mission, as reported on the Facebook page of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia.

Tatoyan presented the urgency of the return of Armenian captives and the violations of the rights of residents on the borders of Armenia due to the criminal acts of the Azerbaijanis.

The Ombudsman highly appreciated the professional and self-dedicated work of French reporters during the war [in Nagorno-Karabakh] in September-November 2020.

During the meeting, Tatoyan presented facts that affirm the violations committed by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces against residents on Armenia’s borders. He went into detail and said people have been deprived of their homes and lands and are facing social and security issues.

Tatoyan emphasized that delimitation and demarcation with Azerbaijan without the creation of a buffer zone and without the removal of armed Azerbaijani soldiers will not ensure the rights of citizens of Armenia and especially borderline residents and will lead to the committal of new violations of rights and further escalation. He added that the main reason for violations of the rights of civilians of Armenia by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces is the policy of Armenophobia and hostility of the Azerbaijani authorities which reached the level of fascism after the war. Moreover, this is reflected in an international document, that is, the Resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of September 27, 2021.

The Ombudsman stressed that all the servicemen and civilians of the Armenian side illegally held in Azerbaijan are captives, must be immediately released and returned to Armenia without any political or other precondition, and the Azerbaijani authorities are artificially delaying and politicizing the process, grossly violating the rights of the captives and their families, causing them sufferings and causing tension in society.