Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Anna Naghdalyan answered reporters’ questions regarding the statement that Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov made during a briefing following his talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ann Linde.

Asked for her comment on the statement that Azerbaijan has transferred to the Armenian side all prisoners of war captured before and during the hostilities, Naghdalyan said the following: “This is yet another false statement by Azerbaijan in regard to this urgent humanitarian issue. The Azerbaijani foreign minister opposes the other relevant authorities of Azerbaijan that have confirmed the existence of dozens of Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan captured during the hostilities and after the establishment of ceasefire. Azerbaijan fails to present the information about Armenian prisoners of war to the European Court of Human Rights, which is dealing with this matter within the scope of the “Armenia vs Azerbaijan” interstate case. The ECHR recently decided to notify the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, emphasizing that Azerbaijan has breached the time limits of the European Court and has not provided full information. Currently, the ECHR is applying interim measures against Azerbaijan in regard to 188 Armenian captives. I must emphasize that failure to implement the interim measures is equal to violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

I would like to add that the eighth provision in the statement of November 9, 2020 concerns all prisoners of war and other persons who are hostages, and with such statements, the Azerbaijani side shows that it is deliberately not implementing the trilateral agreement.

Continuing to keep Armenian captives as hostages undermines implementation of the agreements stated in the trilateral statement.”