The separatists are calling for the release of the saboteurs. Baku refuses

Baku/19.01.21/Turan: On January 19, from Khankendi, a message signed by David Babayan, the so-called “foreign minister” of the illegal Armenian government in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, was sent to the UN and the Council of Europe, as well as to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office. The message reads that violating the trilateral declaration signed on November 9, 2020, in December of the same year Azerbaijan "attacked and occupied the villages of Khtsaberd and Khin Tager in the Gadrut region of Karabakh and took 64 servicemen of the Republic's Defense Army prisoner."

Babayab does not focus on the fact that the  armed Armenians  were captured in Karabakh on December 15, more than a month after the end of the war and the signing of the peace Declaration (November 9, Moscow), and calls them “prisoners of war”.

“Subsequently, the Azerbaijani authorities announced their intention to initiate lawsuit against prisoners of war, which is a gross violation of international humanitarian law,” the letter said.

Babayan calls on to take urgent measures so that Azerbaijan implement the Geneva Conventions and fulfills its obligations.

In the statement of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, the detained armed Armenians sent to Karabakh from the Shirak region of Armenia are called saboteurs, because they   were captured during a peace between the two countries. The representative of Azerbaijan to the UN sent a letter to the secretary general of the organization, where he indicated that 62 Armenian military remaining in captivity were saboteurs, and lawsuits were filed against them.

The Russian Foreign Ministry in an official statement agrees that the armed Armenians were sent to Azerbaijan after the statement of November 9, in which the parties agreed to exchange prisoners according to the formula "all for all". This paragraph of the Statement has been fulfilled. RF Foreign Minister S. Lavrov does not use the concept of "prisoner of war" and reports on the disagreements of Armenians over the number of these people, which prevents their release. Lavrov's statement says about 62 Armenian military personnel.

There is a widespread opinion in the Azerbaijani society about the possibility of releasing captured Armenians only after Yerevan signs the Great Peace Agreement with the obligation to recognize the international borders of Azerbaijan and refusal to resolve the Karabakh conflict by military methods.

Because of the capture of saboteurs in Armenia, a wave of protests by the parents of military personnel who refused to send their sons to serve in Karabakh, fearing that they would also be captured arose.

Baku believes that the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War is not applicable to those who went to Azerbaijan with weapons in peacetime.

The Russian Foreign Ministry in an official statement agrees that the armed Armenians were sent to Azerbaijan after the statement  signed on November 9, in which the parties agreed to exchange prisoners according to the "all for all" formula. This paragraph of the Statement has been fulfilled.

The Russian Foreign Minister S. Lavrov does not use the concept of "prisoner of war" and reports on the disagreements of Armenians over the number of these people, which prevents their release. Lavrov's statement noted 62 Armenian military personnel.

There is a widespread opinion in the Azerbaijani society about the possibility of releasing captured Armenians only after Yerevan signs the Great Peace Agreement with the obligation to recognize the international borders of Azerbaijan and refusal to resolve the Karabakh conflict by military methods.

Because of the capture of saboteurs, the parents of military personnel in Armenia started protests demanding not to send their sons to serve in Karabakh, fearing that they would also be captured. —0—