After his meeting with Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Friendship Group with Armenia of the UK Parliament Tim Loughton addressed the UK Government with the issue of Armenian captives being kept in Azerbaijan.

The meeting with top UK officials took place on March 8 and was hosted by the Armenian National Committee of the United Kingdom. During the meeting, Tatoyan thoroughly presented the international rules in the humanitarian sphere and the field of human rights which require the immediate release and safe return of captives and stated that presenting them as ‘terrorists’ is a gross violation of international humanitarian law and the rights of captives since it concerns an ongoing armed conflict.

Tatoyan also provided information about the war crimes and crimes against humanity that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces committed during the war in September-November 2020 (beheadings, tortures, disrespect towards bodies, etc.)

Touching upon the demarcation and delimitation of Armenia’s borders, Tatoyan introduced his new concept paper according to which a demilitarized buffer zone needs to be created in Syunik Province in order to guarantee people’s security.

On March 11, during a question and answer session in parliament, Baroness Caroline Cox, who had visited Artsakh with the Human Rights Defender of Armenia and recorded the war crimes committed by Azerbaijan, raised the issue related to the inhumane treatment by Azerbaijan of Armenian prisoners of war and the use of prohibited weapons during the war.