Azerbaijan has placed 21 Armenians on its wanted list in connection with the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, the country's authorities have said.

The Prosecutor General's Office noted on Monday, January 25 that 62 criminal cases have been initiated in connection with the hostilities in Karabakh since the start of the war in Karabakh on September 27, 2020. 17 people who Azerbaijan has labeled as "mercenaries", as well as 4 citizens of Armenia have been involved as defendants. All of them are now declared wanted.

The first batch of 44 Armenian POWs returned from Azerbaijan in mid-December, although Armenian officials said many more people were being held in Baku. Dozens of others, both servicemen and civilians, have been captured after the completion of military hostilities. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said in one of his speeches that the newly detained persons are not prisoners of war but “terrorists”. Human rights lawyer Siranush Sahakyan has said, meanwhile, that at least 120 Armenian prisoners of war are being held in Azerbaijan. Sahakyan represents the rights of some of the Karabakh POWs before the European Court of Human Rights. The lawyer said there is enough evidence proving the capture of said persons, which the Armenian side will submit to international agencies and courts.