The authorities of Armenia failed to act for the return of Armenian captives from Azerbaijan. This is what lawyer, constitutional expert Gohar Meloyan told reporters today.

The expert recalled that the statement signed on November 9 implies the following: “the sides stand where they had reached” and return the captives. “None of the points were observed. The fact that the captives haven’t been returned yet is the tremendous fault of the Armenian authorities. The foreign minister of Russia also said this during a recent press conference during which he stated that the Armenian side hadn’t submitted lists of captives,” she said, adding that Armenia could have demanded the return of captives after the transfer of one region and refuse to transfer the second region, if the captives aren’t returned.

According to Meloyan, Azerbaijan violated the point by which the sides must stand where they had reached, and as a result, Azerbaijan seized two villages of Hadrut region and captured 62 servicemen. Although Azerbaijan is the one that violated the agreements, Meloyan stated that the return of 5 out of the 62 prisoners of war following the January 11 meeting is some progress. “The bad thing is that this clearly shows Aliyev’s intentions to trade with human lives and use prisoners as a leverage for pressure. Due to the incompetence of the Armenian authorities, roads and villages in Syunik Province are now under Azerbaijan’s control. This is a violation of Armenia’s territorial integrity. People learn about this either before or after the action,” Meloyan said.