If Armenia withdraws its lawsuits in international courts, the issue of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijani capital Baku will become insoluble. If the political path fails, they will end up in a defenseless situation. This was stated Wednesday in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am by lawyer Siranush Sahakyan, who represents the aforesaid Armenian prisoners’ interests at the European Court of Human Rights.

But Sahakyan expressed hope that US President Donald Trump will fulfill his promise made during the meetings in Washington DC last week, and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, as a humanitarian gesture, will release the Armenian prisoners held in Baku.

“The peace agreement [initialed between Armenia and Azerbaijan last week in Washington] does not even have a provision regarding [the Armenian] prisoners [in Baku], but the matter is included in interstate lawsuits. Therefore, if the Republic of Armenia withdraws the lawsuits, the issue of prisoners will become insoluble,” Sahakyan said.

She noted that the aforesaid peace agreement provides for a commitment to withdraw any legal dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"A question arises: if the provisions of the agreement are violated and Azerbaijan does not show any behavioral changes, what will be Armenia's conduct? Will they generate a new legal dispute, in the conditions when they have assumed an obligation to withdraw the legal disputes already underway? Here, it seems, a mutually contradicting, casuistry situation is being created," added Siranush Sahakyan.