Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan condemns the act of connecting the exchange of captives with any territorial issue or Baku’s attempts to use this with political motives and has posted the following on his Facebook page:

“1. All Armenian servicemen captured by Azerbaijani soldiers must be released and returned to Armenia. This must be done immediately and without any precondition, period.

2. What is absolutely unacceptable is that in point 8 of the trilateral statement signed on November 10, 2020, there is no specific period in regard to the exchange or return of captives or persons who are deprived of liberty in other way. However, this doesn’t mean that the authorities of Azerbaijan can constantly violate the international requirements of human rights and humanitarian agreements (the return of captives is being artificially delayed, the real number of captives isn’t announced and there are even attempts to present a number that is less than the real number, but they continue to be tortured and there is still inhumane treatment against them, videos showing this are purposefully released, and the exchange of the bodies of the deceased is obstructed, etc.)

I have already declared that all this causes mental suffering for the families of the captives, plays with the emotions of Armenian society and sparks tension in the country, and this is done intentionally.

These conclusions are based on the studies of complaints addressed to the Human Rights Defender and the results of round-the-clock monitoring.

3. The statements by the Azerbaijani authorities that Armenians in captivity are terrorists, not prisoners of war and that they are detained, grossly violate the post-war humanitarian process and the international requirements protecting human rights.

These statements directly contradict the requirement in point 8 of the trilateral statement of November 10, 2020.

They are captives, period.

All the requirements need to apply to the exchange of bodies of the victims and the search for missing persons.

4. The Human Rights Defender of Armenia absolutely condemns politicization of this humanitarian and human rights protection issue or even remotely linking this to any territorial issue or the overt attempts of the Azerbaijani authorities to use this with political motives.”