The plane carrying eight Armenian prisoners from Baku landed in Yerevan in the afternoon. The Ambassadors of France and the European Union to Armenia, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, the employees of the Investigative Committee, the National Security Service, greeted the plane.
The eight captured conscripts returned home with the mediation of Emmanuel Macron, President of France, an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair county, and Charles Michel, President of the European Council. Pashinyan-Aliyev online meeting took place on February 4 with their participation.
Hours before returning to Armenia, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) met with Armenian servicemen in Baku to assess their condition.
Zara Amatuni (Head of Communication Programs for the ICRC Delegation in Armenia) - We were aware of the process even though we were not involved in the negotiations. We met them, got acquainted with the conditions, their state of health.
Five of the eight returned men were captured on November 16 due to the aggression carried out by Azerbaijan at the military positions in the direction of Ishkhanasar and Jermuk, and three - in December 2020 - due to battles in the village of Khtsaberd in Hadrut. The men were immediately taken from the airport to the hospital for a medical examination.
Rafayel Vardanyan (Head of the Department of Investigation of Particularly Important Cases) - They have passed a full medical examination. At the moment their health condition allows them to participate in investigative and judicial actions, which will be carried out after the medical examination is completed.
The Office of the Representative of Armenia in International Legal Affairs has previously applied to the European Court for urgent action against these people.
Liparit Drmeyan (Head of the Office of the Representative of the Republic of Armenia for International Legal Affairs) - The court granted our motion and applied an interim measure. Azerbaijan committed a violation of the court decision, it must be submitted in due time, it evaded. The court set a new deadline, provided scant information, before some members of the group returned to Armenia.
The plane carrying the captives last landed in Yerevan on December 29, 2021, bringing 5 servicemen home with the mediation of Hungary. Azerbaijan has opened illegal criminal cases and handed down verdicts against almost all the returnees detained in Baku. After the return of the 8 men, 38 people are detained in Azerbaijan, which is the number provided by Azerbaijan to international organizations, the ECHR.
Liparit Drmeyan - We have about 30 very specific cases in the past of applications sent, where people were seen in videos, which allowed us to claim that at some point the person was under the control of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Azerbaijan does not provide any information.
Of the 38 confirmed people in Azerbaijan, 3 were taken hostage after the November 9 trilateral declaration, 1 - during the November 16 battles, 2 - in the Gegharkunik border area in May, 2 - during the 44-day war, 30 were captured as a result of the events in Khtsaberd. According to the latest data of the Investigative Committee, the whereabouts of 196 servicemen and 21 civilians are unknown. There are reports of some being held captive. To date, Azerbaijan has returned 150 captives to Armenia.
