Only 20 of 1,388 Azerbaijani prisoners of war released from Armenian captivity faced criminal proceedings

The Commission told the APA that all of the missing persons from both sides-Azerbaijanis and Armenians disappeared in the Azerbaijani province of Nagorno Karabakh and seven surrounding regions that have been occupied by Armenian armed forces.

4,581 Azerbaijanis and 414 Armenians are missing. 197 of the missing Armenians are Armenian citizens, 211 Armenia-born Azerbaijani citizens and 6 citizens of other states. 23 missing Armenians disappeared in Armenia, two in Georgia, 399 in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and only 10 disappeared far away from the battles.

"So, these missing persons should be searched in the abovementioned territories. However, though the International Working Group co-chairs have many times visited the region, they failed to clear the fate of any missing person so far. However, they declare that all doors are open to the group to search for the missing in Nagorno Karabakh. On the other hand, they doubt on the missing whom they report to be alive and state there is little hope to find them .You need to search the missing person if you want to find him.

As coming to the statement on inhuman attitude to former prisoners of war in Azerbaijan, this is not as Mr.Berchard Klazen wants to introduce. The Azerbaijani authorities have not prosecuted anyone for being a prisoner of war. Buy this groundless statement the IWG aims to distract the society's attention from its main mission- searching for missing persons," the statement reads.

The State Commission also stated that only 20 of 1,388 Azerbaijanis, who were released at different times, have been called to account for that.

They have been prosecuted in accordance with the Azerbaijani Criminal Code for their concrete crimes. None of them have been prosecuted for being prisoner of war, "The IWG representatives should dedicate their short-term visit to the objective of this non-governmental organization instead of making political statements."