President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev says the returned Armenian prisoners of war can be ‘subjected to tortures’ in their homeland.

“Some of the captives were detained in Armenia when we returned them. This is a very serious signal for us, the returnees and their relatives. We returned them to their homeland, and they were detained there. These people might be tortured. The testimonies of our previous prisoners show that these people will be subjected to cruel tortures. Consequently, if we return more people, they will be detained. This is a real fact, and it can be confirmed,” Aliyev said in an interview with El Pais.

According to him, during the Azerbaijani provocation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on Nov. 16 of this year, the Azerbaijani side captured 30 Armenian servicemen, and since November 2020, Azerbaijan has captured a total of nearly 40 servicemen. “We’re not hiding the figures. The Armenian side has been provided with the names, last names and dates of birth of the captives. Basically, the Armenian side knows about this. There are reports from international organizations, and we’re not hiding this since there is no secret,” he said.

According to him, Azerbaijan has already returned over 100 prisoners of war to Armenia. Aliyev also declared that Armenian soldiers who ‘committed crimes against the Azerbaijani people, faced the court and were sentenced’. “Thus, those people can’t be considered prisoners of war under any international convention,” Aliyev said.