Under the auspices of Andrey Kovatchev, Member of the European Parliament (EPP Group) and the EP’s rapporteur on Armenia, a conference was held at the Council of Europe addressing the issue of Armenian prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan.
The main speakers at the conference were Yeghishe Kirakosyan, Armenia’s representative on international legal matters, Simon Papuashvili, Program Director of the "International Partnership for Human Rights" (IPHR) for Eastern Europe-South Caucasus, Siranush Sahakyan, international law expert and co-founder of the "Path of Law" NGO, Arif Yunus, Head of the Conflict and Migration Department at the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and Hilda Choboyan, representative of the Libertas 2020 project and President of the Covcas Center for Law and Conflict Resolution. This was reported by the "Armenpress" correspondent in Brussels.
International law expert Siranush Sahakyan noted that the torture and psychological suffering inflicted upon Armenian captives in Baku are an undeniable reality. Simon Papuashvili, discussing the evidence at their disposal, stated that Armenian prisoners of war are subjected to unprecedented brutal treatment. "No human rights defender in Azerbaijan was willing to take up the defense of Armenian POWs," said Papuashvili.
Arif Yunus, Head of the Conflict and Migration Department at the Institute for Peace and Democracy, emphasized that all judicial cases against Armenian POWs in Baku violate not only international law but also Azerbaijan’s own constitution. "For Aliyev, it is important to show that he not only took Nagorno-Karabakh but is also punishing everyone," said Yunus.
Among the speakers, Hilda Choboyan pointed out that Azerbaijan is using prisoners of war for political purposes. Choboyan called for joining the campaign launched by her organization to secure the release of the captives.
Yeghishe Kirakosyan, Armenia’s representative on international legal matters, stressed the importance of keeping the issue on the agenda. According to Kirakosyan, the international legal framework for repatriating prisoners of war is limited, and against this backdrop, Azerbaijan is advancing a so-called "terrorist" narrative by fabricating sham judicial cases.
In his speech during the conference, European Parliament member Andrey Kovatchev underscored that the European Parliament has consistently called for resolving the issue through diplomatic means, and that prisoners of war and detained individuals must be released immediately and unconditionally.