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In accordance with its obligations Azerbaijan has released all prisoners of war (POWs) to the Armenian side, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov told a news briefing following talks with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde, TASS reported. 

"Azerbaijan’s stance on this issue is very open and clear. In accordance with the trilateral statement [of November 9 last year] we released to the Armenian side all those taken prisoner during the military operations [in Karabakh] and before it," Bayramov said.

He said that Azerbaijan had begun to release prisoners of war earlier than Armenia, when the hostilities were still in progress.

As for the Armenian military personnel currently being held by Azerbaijan, Bayramov said they could not be regarded as prisoners of war, because they were detained not during combat operations.

"These people were apprehended much later, when the combat operations had ended and a trilateral statement was signed already. To be more precise, on November 26, 2020. They had been drafted into the army in the Shirak region of Armenia and sent to Karabakh, where they committed crimes resulting in the death of Azerbaijani military servicemen and civilians. They continue to be investigated," Bayramov said.