Azerbaijan freed and repatriated five more Armenian prisoners of war who were captured during the Second Karabakh war in the fall of 2020.
“We welcome this as a step contributing to the normalization of [Armenian-Azerbaijani] relations,” Armenia’s National Security Service said in a statement after the POWs were released.
The release came on the heels of a meeting between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, hosted by European Council President Charles Michel in Brussels.
Baku admitted holding 35 Armenian POWs and three civilian captives prior to the latest release.
Most of the PoWs whose captivity has been confirmed by Azerbaijan, have been given lengthy jail terms in mock trials in Baku.
