BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 30. The letters submitted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 1998 and 2001 mentioned the names of 54 Azerbaijanis with confirmation that they were alive at the time, said Azerbaijan's Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) Sabina Aliyeva on Azerbaijanis missing during the first Karabakh war, Trend reports.
"The ICRC's letters note that representatives of this organization visited 54 Azerbaijani citizens taken prisoner by the Armenian military. In the places of their detention in the Republic of Armenia and in the occupied territory of Azerbaijan's Karabakh, they were officially registered by the ICRC. However, these 54 people, who were confirmed to be alive, were subsequently killed by the military-political leadership of Armenia. Among the prisoners, there were six women who died in places of detention. Despite statements that 50 bodies of the dead were returned to Azerbaijan, only 17 were actually returned. Information about the fate of four people was not provided at all. This is a serious violation of human rights," said the ombudsperson.
The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Azerbaijan Republic, Sabina Aliyeva, has prepared a report on Azerbaijanis missing during the first Karabakh war. The report is addressed to relevant international organizations on the occasion of August 30, the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances. The main purpose of this report is to bring to the attention of the international community the issue of the fate of about 4,000 missing Azerbaijanis and to ensure the provision of information about them as well as the appeals of their families.