Relatives of POWs stop their picket after meeting with Pashinyan’s secretary

Participants of a protest action held in front of the Armenian government building left the place after a meeting with the press secretary of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Azerbaijan admits keeping 45 Armenian citizens, while the Armenian side has collected data about 280 prisoners of war (POWs), human rights defender Artak Zeinalyan notes.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on August 9, relatives of Armenian prisoners of war kept in Azerbaijan, including those convicted, went to a protest action in front of the government building in Yerevan and threatened to continue it until officials gave them precise answers about the situation with the prisoners of war.

The participants of the protest action spent last night in front of the government building, and Mane Gevorgyan, the press secretary of the Armenian Prime Minister met the protesters.

Matsak Aleksanyan, a father of a captured soldier, said that among the protesters there was a woman who was waiting for her grandson to return from captivity, but she died, unable to withstand the worries.

The prisoners of war are being kept in inhuman conditions, claims Nelly Umrshatyan, whose son fought all 44 days of the war. “In Baku, prisoners of war have to sleep on concrete,” the woman said.

According to her, at first, the relatives of the prisoners of war had a hope that their family members would return, but the courts in Baku killed the hope.

Armenian POWs are being kept in captivity illegally and for political purposes, Ombudsman of Armenia Arman Tatoyan insists.