Council of Europe Human Rights Chief negotiates for Baku visit amid concerns over Armenian POWs

The situation regarding Armenian prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan is a priority for Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty, who is closely monitoring both the conditions in which they are being held in Baku and the trials they are facing.

"I am in discussions with the Azerbaijani government to visit Baku. It takes time for both them and me," O'Flaherty said during the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), in response to a question from Armen Gevorgyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, regarding the situation of Armenian prisoners of war held in Baku.

He stressed that he had already submitted two requests to the Azerbaijani authorities to visit the country. "I will apply a third, even a fourth time. I definitely want to go there and engage with the human rights issues in that country," he emphasized.

Armen Gevorgyan recalled that a few weeks ago he had presented O'Flaherty with a statement by a prominent American lawyer, the international legal representative of one of the Armenian prisoners in Baku, Ruben Vardanyan. The lawyer described the severe conditions under which Armenian prisoners of war are being held.