Azerbaijan continues to conceal the real number of Armenian prisoners. Lawyer Siranush Sahakyan stated this at Wednesday’s press conference dedicated to the report of Armenia’s ombudsman on the torture and inhuman treatment of Armenians in Azerbaijani captivity.

She recalled many facts when Armenians were in Azerbaijan, whereas the latter’s authorities persistently continued to deny their being captured.

"[Armenian soldier] Erik Khachatryan's group, for example. They have been in the isolation ward of the [Azerbaijani] Ministry of Justice since December 5, but until February, Azerbaijan was trying to convince them that they did not have the five identified boys," the lawyer said.

Sahakyan added that we are dealing with a forced disappearance. "Official Azerbaijani data are incomplete and do not reflect the real picture. It remains to be seen how to deal with this war crime," she said

According to her, there is another Armenian serviceman regarding whom there is confidence that the Azerbaijani authorities deny it.

"There are reports that when [Armenian] people were held in solitary confinement for six months, they [the Azerbaijanis] were not allowing the ICRC to [see] them. We do not rule out other similar cases, just as we do not rule out that the people may have been killed," the lawyer said.

Also, Siranush Sahakyan noted that they have submitted 38 complaints, and dozens of cases are being investigated for violation of the right to life.

"Preliminary data show that people were killed. We are waiting for the results of the investigations to file complaints. We predict that there will be about 30 more cases. These do not include cases of enforced disappearances. There are more than 20 such cases," the lawyer said.

The Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, in turn, noted cases when Armenian captives were hidden from the Red Cross and being transported in groups to hide them. As for the Azerbaijani “trials” of Armenian captives, the ombudsman assessed them as yet another crime.