Today, there are 235 prisoners of war in Azerbaijan. This is what former director of the National Security Service of Armenia, Special Assignments Ambassador Davit Shahnazaryan said during a subsequent broadcast of the Pressing show. He also disclosed the real and exact number of prisoners of war and the location of Lebanese-Armenian woman Maral Najarian.

“The authorities must disclose the list of missing persons and the location of prisoners of war,” he said.

Asked why the authorities aren’t disclosing the list, Shahnazaryan said they are doing everything they can to conceal the crime that they have committed.

“Today I will disclose the real figures. We’re talking about the number of prisoners of war which, for some reason, the authorities present as a state secret. As always, I take full responsibility for my statements. Today, there are 235 prisoners of war in Azerbaijan. Among them are civilians, including women. Moreover, according to Azerbaijan, there are 171 prisoners of war and 64 “terrorists”, as they say. These figures are extremely important, and instead of concealing them, the authorities needed to speak out about them through all international instances and the Red Cross. I reiterate the fact that holding talks while there are Armenians in Azerbaijani prisons is a crime,” he said.

According to the ex-chief of the National Securty Service, based on various evaluations, there are more than 5,000 victims of the war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

Shahnazaryan also touched upon the capture of Lebanese-Armenian woman Maral Najarian since Azerbaijan has officially acknowledged the fact that she is a captive, and this is why the country is making an exception.

“She was captured along with her family friend Vigen Ekuajian on November 10. The prison in Gubistan is located 70 km away from Baku. It’s a large prison with many branches. Maral Najarian is in cell #213 on the second floor in the third building of the prison. The authorities don’t have the figures that I stated. Let them use those figures,” Shahnazaryan said and insisted that he demands that the authorities disclose the list of missing persons and captives.