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A worldwide silent demonstration will be held on April 15 demanding to help return over 300 Armenian POWs and citizens kept in hostage in Azerbaijan following the Artsakh war in October 2020.

In Yerevan, the action will take place at the UN Offices on Thursday, at 12:00, to raise our voices together with human rights activists who take to the streets on the same day in Toronto, Montreal, Berlin, Warsaw, Rome, LA, New York, Geneva, Houston, Paris. 

The government of Azerbaijan denies the fact that hundreds of Armenians are kept in their prisons 6 months after the war, in violation of the Geneva Conventions, as well as in breach of the November 10 trilateral Ceasefire agreement signed between Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan.

HRW has confirmed in a recent article that Azerbaijan is illegally holding hundreds of Armenian POWs. The Stream published an article depicting the torture and violence Armenian citizens face under Azerbaijani captivity. Participants will continue the demonstration and walk to the Russian Embassy calling to enforce Azerbaijan to adhere to the terms of the trilateral agreement in releasing all Armenian hostages and POWs from Azerbaijani captivity.

The demonstrators will carry signs to raise awareness of the breach of the ceasefire agreement by Azerbaijan and the inhumane treatment of the POWs and hostages. The effects of war, including war crimes such as employment of terrorists, taking hostage of POWs, beheadings, and killings of POWs, use of prohibited weapons, killings of civilians, the use of phosphorus bombs in forests, and the shelling and bombing of civilian settlements, have not worn off yet.

By adhering to the terms of the ceasefire agreement, the release of POWs is a detrimental step towards peace-building in the region. Otherwise, the lives of Captives are at risk of being used as negotiation points to grab and occupy more territories that are within the borders of Armenia proper in a process that will continue to cause instability in the region.