Question: Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov stated during the press conference after the meeting with the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ann Linde that Azerbaijan, in accordance with its obligations, has handed over to the Armenian side all prisoners of war that were taken hostage during the military hostilities and before that. I would like your comment on this statement.

Answer: This is another distortion of the Azerbaijani side on this urgent humanitarian issue. With his statement, the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan contradicts the other relevant bodies of that country, which confirmed the fact of the presence of dozens of Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijan, captured both during the hostilities and after the establishment of the ceasefire.

Azerbaijan is withholding information regarding the Armenian prisoners of war also from the European Court of Human Rights, which is dealing with the matter in the framework of proceedings under the interstate case of Armenia vs Azerbaijan. The Court has recently decided to notify the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the subject, noting that Azerbaijan has failed to respect time-limits set by the Court for the submission of information or provided rather general and limited information. There are currently active interim measures against Azerbaijan with respect to 188 Armenians captured by Azerbaijan. I must highlight that non-implementation of interim measures is tantamount to a violation of the Convention.

Let me add, that the 8th provision of the November 9 statement refers to all prisoners of war, captured civilians and other detained persons, and with such statements the Azerbaijani side proves that it deliberately does not implement the trilateral statement.

The continuous holding of Armenian prisoners of war undermines the implementation of the agreements set in the trilateral statement.