Let no one doubt that any prisoner of war, any person who is currently being tried in a formality trial in the Baku court is not a defendant, is not considered a persona non grata for us, and we are engaged in the task of his return. Speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, Alen Simonyan, told this to reporters at the NA Tuesday.

“They are our compatriots, and all steps related to their return have been taken and will be taken. It's just that now the noise of that trial is loud, everyone wants quick decisions and solutions, which at this phase, taking into account who are conducting the trial and for what, I believe that at this phase it will be very difficult. But that does not mean that attempts and work in that direction do not continue and will not continue,” Simonyan said, in particular.

Referring to the criticism that the Armenian authorities have separated the issue of the return of Armenian captives in Azerbaijan from the peace treaty, the NA speaker said: "First of all, I want to understand that when they criticize, they say such things, what have they done all this time, except for criticizing and giving the media and special services of the neighboring country an opportunity to incite some hybrid things in the Republic of Armenia?

Secondly, who said that there should be such a clause in the peace treaty? Not to mention who said that there was such a clause and that it was removed by the Armenian side. And who said that if, according to the November 9 [2020] statement—where there is the signature of the heads of three countries, including the signature of the Russian president—where it says that all detained persons must be returned, Azerbaijan has not fulfilled that clause, now we must put a condition in the peace treaty and it will fulfill that clause? Azerbaijan has used and continues to use that lever to make political trade, which was done during COP29. It won't do it. (...). One can say absolute truths in front of video cameras to constantly appear manifest and lifelike and good, but they have practically nothing.

Writing that in the peace treaty shall also imply the principle of reciprocity; [but] we [i.e. Armenia] don't have any [Azerbaijani] captives at the moment to give back in reciprocity. Then you sign the peace treaty and keep the captives? I think that's incompatible.”