OAS urges release of all Karabakh captives

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Organization of American States (OAS) has urged the release of all prisoners of war captured during the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakkh.

The Organization's Secretary General Luis Almagro said he recently spoke to Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian.

Almagro said the cooperation between the country the Organization, as well as the humanitarian situation in Artsakh was discussed in the phone call.

"We urge immediate release of prisoners of war and civilians captured during the recent war," he said.

Several dozen 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.