YEREVAN. – Azerbaijan keeps the Armenian captives for political bargaining. The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, told this to a press conference Wednesday.
When asked about the statements of the Azerbaijani MP in Yerevan that "all the captives have been released," Tatoyan noted that he is familiar with the cynical speech that "the [Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh)] conflict is over, and all the captives—returned."
The ombudsman reminded that these two issues are interrelated, and the Azerbaijani side makes an artificial division between these captives—until the signing of the trilateral declaration on November 9, 2020 and after that—, extorts testimony from Armenian captives through torture, then calls them "terrorists."
"All these [court] trials [in Azerbaijan against the Armenian captives] are a crime in itself, an attempt—in the eyes of the world community—to ensure a legitimate justification for not returning the captives. This is done for political and military bargaining purposes. (…). The conflict is not over. This is important in order to record that they are captives," Tatoyan stressed.
"Azerbaijani delegates need to remember this when they are attempting to mislead the world community. We will not allow it. They can fool their own society. They commit crimes, then talk about peace," added the ombudsman of Armenia.