Deputy of the My Step faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Nazeli Baghdasaryan posted the following on her Facebook page:

“The statement that Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbajian Jeyhun Bayramov made during his meeting with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Ann Linde regarding prisoners of war was nothing but distortion of the reality.

Distorting the facts and circumstances and using the terms “saboteur” or “terrorist” to describe our compatriots are inadmissible.

I would particularly like to emphasized that the requirement in point 8 of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020 concerns all persons being kept in Azerbaijan, regardless of status and date of capture, and so it applies to all those who are being forcefully kept in the two conflicting countries.

Reaffirming the Armenian side’s approach, once again, I deem it necessary to state that any criminal prosecution against the captives is groundless and contradicts the norms of international humanitarian law. Let us state that the capture of 64 persons from Khtsaberd and Hin Tagher during peace after the signing of the trilateral statement contradicted the logic of the signed document.

The international community needs to continue to exert pressure on Azerbaijan because the needless delay of repatriation of our compatriots serves as brilliant evidence of the violation of universal values.”