CA Congressman Jim Costa was joined by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (CA) and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Jackie Speier (CA) and Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ) in calling on Azerbaijani Ambassador to the U.S. Elin Suleymanov to outline "specific steps you are taking to ensure the release of Armenian hostages and how the Azerbaijani authorities are working to ensure adherence to the November 9 agreement."
In their March 19th letter, the U.S. Representatives noted that "we’ve heard reports that Azerbaijan continues to detain an estimated 200 Armenian prisoners over 100 days after the end of the conflict. Estimates also suggest that more than ten percent of detainees were civilians. Furthermore, Human Rights Watch has released findings of mistreatment, torture, and even extrajudicial executions of ethnic Armenian prisoners by Azerbaijani military forces. In light of these events, the swift and safe return of these individuals has become a pressing humanitarian concern and of critical importance to ensuring a peaceful postwar future in the region."
