Baku's demonstrative play is the result of physical and moral harassments

Artsakh State Commission on Prisoners of War (POW), Hostages and Missing Persons has issued a statement condemning Baku's recent move to politicize the humanitarian issue of war prisoners and hostages for political gains and for undermining the prestige of the Armenian army and the state in general.

Earlier a few Azerbaijani news websites publicized one after the other alleged interviews with Armenian deserter soldiers who speak about the harassments they were reportedly subjected to in Armenia, as well as about the unbearable situation in the Armenian army and in the country in general. An alleged interview with a deserter Armenian family was also publicized.

"They [the deserters] who have become the target of the Azerbaijani mass media are speaking [in those interviews] about the 'unbearable conditions in the Armenian army and about the good life in Azerbaijan'.

"There is no doubt that the demonstrative play of the Azerbaijani special services is in fact the result of physical and moral harassments.

"By cynically using the Armenian POWs, the Azerbaijani authorities are violating the international humanitarian law, particularly the norms of the Geneva agreements, which stipulate certain rules of treatment toward this group of people," reads the statement.