Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan commented on the demonstration in Yerevan by the families of Armenian soldiers who are held prisoner in Azerbaijan, Armenpress reported.

The news agency noted that the family members of soldiers from Shirak Province who were taken captive in Khtsaberd village of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) have declared a sit-in outside the Armenian government headquarters and are demanding a meeting with the prime minister, and asked Gevorgyan whether Pashinyan intends to receive them.

In response, she stated as follows: “In the last 9 months, the prime minister met with the families of the soldiers taken captive in Khtsaberd nine times, including twice in Shirak Province. The latest such meeting took place on July 23. The prime minister had dozens of meetings with families of captives in the last 9 months. Moreover, some of the meetings had no time limit.

During all those meetings, the prime minister presented the entire existing information to the families of the captured soldiers and said that he is always ready to share information with them, including through meetings.

The family members of the captives know that they have the opportunity for having periodical meetings with the prime minister, and a concrete mechanism exists for this. In such conditions, the conduct of demanding a meeting with the prime minister through a sit-in is perplexing, as understandable the state of the families of our captive soldiers is.

It is noteworthy that the families of soldiers captured in Khtsaberd have met many times with the NSS [(National Security Service)] director and the governor of Shirak.

In the last 9 months, 24 soldiers captured in Khtsaberd were repatriated. 104 captured persons were repatriated to Armenia since November 9. The government of the Republic of Armenia condemns Azerbaijan’s conduct of sentencing Armenian prisoners of war, hostages, and other detainees to imprisonment on fabricated charges, and continues to make efforts toward repatriating our captive countrymen.”