EU calls for release of all Karabakh "detainees"

PanARMENIAN.Net - EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar has called for the release of prisoners of war and other detainees captured during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"Tragic deaths and injuries of [Azerbaijani] civilians in Kelbajar yesterday. Important to have full exchange of information for effective demining to prevent further casualties," Klaar tweeted on Saturday, June 5, a day after at least three Azerbaijani died in a mine accident.

"[Armenia and Azerbaijan] need to make every effort to resolve key humanitarian issues, including the release of detainees."

So far, more than 70 Armenian PoWs have returned home. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev claims that persons still being kept in Baku are not prisoners of war but “terrorists and saboteurs”. Officials and human rights advocates from the Armenian side, however, maintain Azerbaijan is still holding hundreds of people hostage, pledging to submit evidence proving the capture of said persons to international agencies and courts.