The situation regarding Armenian prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan is a priority for Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty, who is closely monitoring both the conditions in which they are being held in Baku and the trials they are facing.
“I am in discussions with the Azerbaijani government to visit Baku. It takes time for both them and me,” O’Flaherty said during the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), in response to a question from Armen Gevorgyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, regarding the situation of Armenian prisoners of war held in Baku.
He stressed that he had already submitted two requests to the Azerbaijani authorities to visit the country. “I will apply a third, even a fourth time. I definitely want to go there and engage with the human rights issues in that country,” he emphasized.
O’Flaherty, addressing the issue of Armenian prisoners illegally held in Baku and the sham trials being conducted against them, stated at the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) that it is essential to protect the rights of everyone in the region and ensure that those who wish to return to Nagorno-Karabakh are free to do so.
“I also encourage Armenia to continue its warm attitude towards the people it has accepted from Nagorno-Karabakh,” O’Flaherty said in response to a question from Civil Contract faction MP Arusyak Julhakyan regarding the Armenian prisoners held in Baku.
