2 minute read
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reaffirmed on Thursday that his administration is making daily efforts to secure the release of Armenians held as prisoners in Azerbaijan.
“We are making maximum efforts to achieve concrete results. My approach is this: as long as those results are not there, I won’t make any announcements. When there is something to report, there will be an announcement,” he said in response to a question from Armenpress during a press briefing.
Several prominent Karabakh politicians are among the Armenian prisoners of war and detainees held in Azerbaijan.
During the mass exodus of the Armenian population from Nagorno-Karabakh amid the Azerbaijani offensive in September 2023, a number of high-ranking, then-incumbent, and former officials were detained and charged with what has been widely described as fabricated charges, including terrorism.
The detainees and POWs include:Former Nagorno-Karabakh presidents Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan, then-Speaker of Parliament Davit Ishkhanyan, former Foreign Minister Davit Babayan, former Defense Minister Levon Mnatsakanyan and former State Minister Ruben Vardanyan.