US Intervention Could Lead to the Release of Armenian POWs
US President Donald Trump, during his meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the White House, announced that he would ask Aliyev to release the 23 Armenian Christians held in Baku. However, the signed document does not contain any provision concerning the return of POWs. Siranush Sahakyan, a human rights defender and president of the International and Comparative Law Center, commented on the information about the discussion of the release of Armenian POWs during the negotiations in the US in a conversation with Sputnik Armenia.
"The document addresses a number of issues, one of which is humanitarian in nature: clarifying the fate of missing and forcibly disappeared persons. The document also mentions the parties' intention to renounce ongoing trials and legal processes, hate speech, and discriminatory actions, but no provision, either explicitly or implicitly, relates to the issue of releasing prisoners. In other words, the parties have not undertaken any political or legal commitments regarding the return of prisoners," Sahakyan said, not ruling out that the topic might have been discussed behind closed doors. The human rights defender believes that Trump's statements may indicate that the issue of releasing the prisoners is being considered as a possible concession in the context of signing a peace document. She noted that it was clear from the start that the prisoners had become hostages and were being held deliberately to exert additional pressure on the Armenian authorities to sign a peace document under conditions acceptable to Azerbaijan.
"There is progress in signing the document, so there are also positive shifts in the release process. Trump is showing personal involvement, or at least expressing such a readiness. Given his authority and influence in the region, we consider the release of these individuals to be realistic if he gets personally involved. Of course, this will be presented to the public as a humanitarian gesture by Aliyev, as a sign of friendly relations with Trump. It is no coincidence that Trump emphasizes that the prisoners are Christians, as he has a unique commitment to the release of Christians held illegally in various parts of the world," Sahakyan detailed.
Regarding the number 23 that was mentioned, Siranush Sahakyan states that it refers to the 23 officially confirmed Armenians illegally held in Baku. "These 23 individuals include 8 members of the former and current leadership of Artsakh, as well as civilians and POWs who were captured during the 2020 war or afterward. Specifically, 8 were captured during the September 2023 aggression," Sahakyan elaborated.
According to the lawyer, there is also another list of missing persons, which is much larger in number, but that list also includes 23 people who disappeared as a result of the September 2023 attack and the explosion on September 25. "The coincidence of these numbers artificially confused the two different lists, which created the misconception that the 23 people Trump mentioned and the list of confirmed prisoners are not the same," Siranush Sahakyan concluded.