Rustam Muradov, commander of the Russian peacekeeping troops in Nagorno Karabakh, has met with Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan. The news was announced by Karabakh President Arayik Harutyunyan, who also noted that, “Azerbaijan has so reported fewer captives than our indisputable evidence shows.”
Harutyunyan said yesterday he and Commander Muradov met with families of POWs, and that the information that Muradov confirmed about the surviving soldiers is being passed on to their relatives.
Also Watch: Syunik – Azerbaijan is Coser Than Ever
“I express my sincere gratitude to General Muradov, who personally visited Azerbaijan, met with some of our prisoners of war on the spot, and provided us with their names and surnames,” Harutyunyan said.
Last Friday, Armenia and Azerbaijan had handed over the lists of prisoners to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Karabakh Human Rights Defender’s Office reports that it has identified about 60 prisoners of war from various videos, only a small part of whom have not yet been identified.
Last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that Azerbaijani forces have inhumanely treated numerous ethnic Armenian military troops captured in the Karabakh conflict. In most of the videos, the captors’ faces are visible, suggesting that they did not fear being held accountable, HRW notes.
The trilateral agreement signed by heads of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia did not include deadlines for the exchange of bodies or POWs.
Also Watch: The Citizen’s Guide to Resolving the Political Crisis in Armenia
