The Sweden-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) calls on Azerbaijan to immediately return Armenian prisoners of war.

In their statement, the members of the Sweden-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group state that, expressing the concern that Azerbaijan is not only showing a destructive approach to politicize the humanitarian issue, but is also making attempts to block the entry of international organizations, including the UN into the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone and taking into consideration point 8 of the statement on cessation of hostilities signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation on November 10, 2020, they call on Azerbaijan to accelerate the exchange of bodies of the killed, as well as the exchange of prisoners of war and hostages, and to immediately end criminal proceedings against them and ensure their transfer to the Republic of Armenia.

“An unconditional and immediate return of prisoners will be one of the first steps towards the restoration of a trust-based atmosphere between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia. We also call on the institutions of the European Union to raise this humanitarian issue consistently in the context of the current and future relations with the Republic of Azerbaijan”, the parliamentarians said in their statement.