YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Armenia’s Foreign Ministry has declined to say whether Yerevan has formally asked Azerbaijan to allow diplomats from a third country to visit Armenian prisoners held in Baku, citing the sensitivity of the issue.
“Work to address the problems of Armenian prisoners held in Baku is ongoing,” the ministry said in a September 1 response to questions from RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Given the sensitivity of the issue, the Foreign Ministry does not consider it appropriate to make additional information about the ongoing work public.”
Last month, the ministry said Armenia had asked a “neutral” country to organize a consular visit to about two dozen Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan. It stressed at the time that Baku’s consent would be required for such a visit.
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service asked the ministry whether it had since formally appealed to Azerbaijan to allow representatives of a third country to visit the prisoners and, if so, what response it had received. The ministry was also asked to identify the country that had agreed to visit the Armenians.
Siranush Sahakyan, a Yerevan-based lawyer representing the prisoners at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), said organizing third-party visits is “extremely important” because the 19 captives, including eight former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh, have been essentially held incommunicado for more than a year.
