ICRC to continue exchange of prisoners of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will continue to work towards exchanging prisoners of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan after the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, but the status of prisoners of war must be decided by the parties themselves, the president of the organization, Peter Maurer, has told Izvestia.

“Yes, the Red Cross has direct access to the detainees. We can share our experience, we can advise, but the relevant governments must decide the final status . We are in contact with both sides. We hope that in the future we will be able to find a solution for all the detainees who are in Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Maurer said in response to a question about visiting prisoners of war. He said representatives of the organization visited the detainees, but the organization did not give a public assessment of the detention conditions.

“We are visiting to assess the conditions of detention, but as you know, this is a secret process for the ICRC,” Maurer said, adding that the ICRC is working with regional authorities. He added that this year, the Red Cross will increase the funding of its mission in Nagorno Karabakh five times, bringing it to 50 million euros.

After the military operation was over, 62 servicemen from different communities of Shirak Province were captured by Azerbaijan in last December. Nine Shirak residents have already returned․ On January 28, five captives from Shirak returned to Armenia, on February 8, five others returned, three of whom were from Gyumri. Another group of 3 prisoners of war returned to Armenia on May 4․ One of them is from Shirak Province. On June 12, Azerbaijan returned 15 other prisoners of war to Armenia, none of whom were from Shirak.