MorePOWFree — Toivo Klaar, EU’s special representative to the South Caucasus, with the freed POWs on board a chartered plane

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More Armenian POWs Freed

December 23, 2021

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The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

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YEREVAN (RFE/RL) — Azerbaijan freed and repatriated at the weekend ten more Armenian soldiers captured during deadly fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border that broke out last month.

The soldiers were flown to Yerevan by a plane chartered by the European Union. Toivo Klaar, the EU’s special representative to the South Caucasus, was also on board.

The EU said their release was the result of an agreement reached by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at their December 14 meeting in Brussels hosted by European Council President Charles Michel.

“An important humanitarian gesture follows the efforts by the EU to work with both countries to build on mutual trust,” it added in a statement.

Michel said after the Brussels talks that Aliyev and Pashinyan pledged to de-escalate tensions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and restore rail links between the two South Caucasus states. Aliyev described the talks as “productive.”

A total of three dozen Armenian soldiers were taken prisoner during the November 16 fighting on the border which left at least 13 troops from both sides dead. Azerbaijan freed ten POWs on December 4.

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A few days later, Armenian courts allowed the Investigative Committee to arrest four of them on charges of violating “rules for performing military service.” They will face between three and seven years in prison if convicted.

Armenian opposition figures and human rights lawyers criticized the arrests, saying that Baku could exploit them to further delay the release of dozens of other Armenian servicemen remaining in Azerbaijani captivity. Pashinyan’s political allies dismissed these warnings.

Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, criticized a law-enforcement agency on Thursday for arresting four Armenian soldiers who were freed and repatriated by Azerbaijan earlier this month.

They were among three dozen soldiers taken prisoner during the November 16 fighting on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border which left at least 13 troops from both sides dead. The Armenian military said it also lost two border posts in what Yerevan condemned as an Azerbaijani incursion into Armenian territory.

Baku freed ten POWs on December 4. A few days later, Armenian courts allowed the Investigative Committee to arrest four of them on charges of violating “rules for performing military service.” They will face between three and seven years in prison if convicted.

Tatoyan said his office has interviewed the detained soldiers, looked into the circumstances of their capture and arrived at the conclusion that explanations given for their pretrial arrests are “not convincing.”

The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

Topics: Armenian POWs, European Union

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In a statement, the human rights defender linked the arrests with controversial statements about Armenian POWs made by senior government officials and pro-government lawmakers.

In particular, parliament speaker Alen Simonyan was caught on camera saying during a recent trip to Paris that many of them “laid down their weapons and ran away” during fighting with Azerbaijani forces. In a secretly filmed video published on December 7, Simonian branded them deserters, sparking angry street protests by relatives of POWs.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and members of his political team did not publicly criticize or disavow the disparaging comments condemned by the Armenian opposition. Pashinyan said on December 8 that law-enforcement authorities must investigate the circumstances in which Armenian soldiers were captured by Azerbaijani troops.

Armenian opposition figures and human rights lawyers have also deplored the ensuing arrests, saying that Azerbaijan could exploit them to further delay the release of dozens of other Armenian servicemen remaining in Azerbaijani captivity. Pashinyan’s political allies have dismissed these warnings.

In a newspaper interview published earlier this week, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pointed to the arrests of repatriated POWs and alleged their mistreatment by Armenian investigators. “If we repatriate more people, they too will be arrested,” he said.

The four soldiers are prosecuted for allegedly trying to negotiate with, rather than engage, Azerbaijani troops that attacked and seized their border post on November 16.

Aleksan Tumasyan, a lawyer representing one of the arrested men, dismissed the charges when he spoke with RFE / RL’s Armenian Service on Tuesday. He said they repeatedly warned their senior commanders about an Azerbaijani military buildup in the border area but were ordered not to open fire.

Armenian opposition politicians have for months accused the government of not allowing army units to shoot at Azerbaijani forces attacking them at various sections of the border. Pashinyan insisted on November 17 that neither he nor any other official had ever issued no-shoot orders. Deputy Defense Minister Arman Sargsyan also denied the claim.

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